Trust By My Side
by Kuru0
Summary: Naruto had tried to run away from the orphanage at age 5. Upon being brought back, he found that he had left his only friend, Tenten, alone and hurt. Seeing her cry, he realized that he would do everything he could to make sure he never hurt those close to him again. Smart Naruto, Academy rework, Genin cell overhaul, Jutsu research, NarutoXTenten, slow pace, NOT A ROMANCE!
1. Chapter 1

*****Super depressing I need to add this... Adding this to chapter one and twenty one for now but this story is not a romance... Have zero idea where everyone got the notion that this was only a romance... Tags clearly say, Friendship/Adventure... Now will there be any romance? Yes, there will be... Are you going to see a bunch of children who were raised into killing machines fucking like rabbits? No, no you are not... Swear I get a headache every time I get a message or review bitching that, 'Oh the story is so slow paced and stale, where are the lemons, the romance needs to hurry up, how many girls will Naruto end up with?' All of these have nothing to do with what I have written so far... The best part? I don't think I have gotten a single one of them reviews by someone I could reply to... Brilliant... You rage quit my story because Tenten isn't being fucked at age 8? Probably need to check yourself into some kind of mental institute...*****

 **I apologize in advance. One of the biggest complaints I got from this chapter is the long intro. I broke it up a little so it reads a little smoother but I couldn't shorten it.**

 **To me, in the shinobi world, comradery should actually mean something. Teammates are going to me more along the lines of family instead of just another ninja around them a lot. The main changing point of my fan-fiction is that Tenten and Naruto grew up together in the orphanage and became friends. This starts Naruto on the path to protecting those he holds close a lot sooner. Tenten affects Naruto more than that but Ill save that for the story.**

 **Graduates from the academy, as their first mission, is to build a three man team that works. This mean no best and worst on the same team because that's balance. They need to be able to build their own team that works well together to be deserving of the title genin. I was not impressed with the plan of having one jonin sensei so I completely scrapped the idea.**

 **Instead, it will be the responsibility of the teams to build relations with the other ninja in the village to find their own mentors and possibly broker apprenticeships on their own. Jonin and high chunin are encouraged to train the newer generation so they will not just be on their own. This would just free up village resources that would be tied down to low class mission with a full genin team and one jonin.**

 **There will be a lot of major changes to the basic world. If I say that Naruto can learn Multi-Size Jutsu from the Akimichi clan for example, this means that I changed how the jutsu worked so that anyone could learn it. There will be some jutsu that seem to be from specific clans but kekkai genkai will be far narrower and will be more based on a clan specialty instead of special bloodlines. Uchiha will have Sharingan exclusively along with the Byakugan in the Hyuga clan ect. Not going to be just handing out those kind of bloodlines, however, mastery of earth and water jutsu could lead to someone gaining the wood release.**

 **I will be sure to keep it toned down so it isn't just "I practiced water style the other day and with my earth affinity I can do S-rank wood jutsu now." Not even close. There will be a lot of training to gain such an ability if it is not your main affinities.**

 **Most ninja will also have the potential to branch out much further with most people having 1-2 strong affinities and 1-2 weaker affinities. This will mostly be genetic but can lead to Kakashi for example, having a more valid reason to have strong affinities with multiple elements. (His own being Lightning, Water would be his mother's side possibly, training an Earth affinity from the ground up, and then a Fire affinity from having Obito's Sharingan implanted. And before anyone asks it doesn't work like that all the time.)**

 **I am 100% open to suggestions and critics. If you think that should wear blue sandals instead of black sandals I would seriously consider changing it up down the road if I feel it would have any impact on the story. (Dumb example but this intro is too long as it is) I will do my best to address any issues I see in the reviews or PMs, let me know what you think and I will go from there. Without further delay, here is Trust By My Side.**

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 **I do not own Naruto**

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Naruto Uzumaki, age 5. Naruto had been picked on his entire life in the orphanage. He never managed to fit in the the other kids around him. Many called him mean names, and others ignored him. Nobody had ever shown him even the slightest amount of kindness. They treated him less than human.

It was a hard life. The only thing that kept him alive was the threat of the hokage's wrath upon anyone who dared to harm him. They still kept him just alive. He was never shown comfort when he was sick. He was never show care when he was hurt.

Naruto attempted to run away. He was missing for 16 hours before a silver haired anbu found him hiding in the forest near training grounds 43. Upon finding him, the anbu quickly brought him to the hokage tower.

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"I have located Uzumaki-sanm lord Hokage." The silver haired anbu said with a bow. Under his arm was the Uzumaki in question, unconscious. "No formalities here Inu-san. Everyone else leave the room immediately." Hiruzen Sarutobi, Hokage of Konoha said with a wave of his hand. Immediately three shadows darted across the room and out the door.

Upon shutting the door the dog masked anbu stood up and walked toward the couch in the room and laid Naruto down. "What would have caused him to run from the orphanage." Hiruzen said idly, taking a puff from his pipe.

"I believe I have the answer to that Hokage-sama," the anbu started. "It seems the orphanage has found a few loopholes in your protection over Naruto. The laws prevent the overseers from harming Naruto, but we cannot enforce your law against the children. The woman in charge has been giving more food to the children who abuse Naruto."

"That is unacceptable" Hiruzen said forcefully slamming his fist into his desk. He pulled out a scroll from said desk and started to write in it.

A few minutes had passed and the anbu finally spoke. "What will you do about this Hokage-sama?" Hiruzen stood up, rolled up the scroll he had been writing in and walked around his desk toward his anbu.

"I have a mission for you should you choose to accept it. I am not forcing you to accept it but I believe you deserve the first chance to take it." As he said this he handed the scroll to his anbu who quickly read it.

The mission was S-ranked. The mission said, "Protect Naruto Uzumaki from immediate threat and harm from the shadows. Length of assignment, 7 years. At all times between missions is to be spend overlooking Naruto Uzumaki's safety and well-being. Hospitalize any physical threat to Naruto without prejudice. No mercy is to be shown."

"Hokage-sama I would be honored to accept this mission, however, this is calling for a two man team. Who would you have as my partner." Inu-san asked. "I believe that Neko-chan would be more than happy to take this mission. It also wouldn't hurt to have a woman in Naruto's life. She is also a better medic than you." Hiruzen said after a few moments of thought.

Hiruzen dropped the security seals and called in an anbu from the waiting area outside. "Please bring Neko-chan here as soon as possible." The anbu nodded and vanished.

Replacing the seal Hiruzen continued. "There is one more thing I did not write down in that mission scroll. This will be an S-rank mission but knowledge of the mission is to be considered just as confidential. Naruto will ask questions I am sure, however, please do not tell him why you are protecting him. I will tell him of his mother soon and that will be the reason for the protection. Until then do not give a reason, am I understood?"

"Just his mother, why not tell him about his father?" Inu asked.

"That I will hold off on until he is a full fledged shinobi. A little unfair but I want him to mature before I tell him that. Wouldn't want him to shout it to the world now would we?" Hiruzen said after a moment of thought.

Feeling a slight fluctuation in the seals, knowing it was the equivalent to knocking, Hiruzen lowered the seals and the anbu he send to find Neko returned. "I have brought Neko-san as ordered Hokage-sama." the anbu said with a short bow. "Thank you Kuma-san, you may go." Hiruzen said with a small nod back.

"Neko-chan, I have a long term S-rank mission for you to complete with Inu-san here." Hiruzen said as he offered her the scroll. Neko took the scroll and started to read it. When she finished it took everything she had as an anbu to not jump up and down in joy. "I accept Hokage-sama. Thank you for this mission."

"There is only one more thing Neko-chan. You are forbidden to tell Naruto your relationship with him is that clear?" Hiruzen said in a voice that left no room to argue.

"I, I understand Hokage-sama." Neko said quietly. "Do not worry Neko-chan, I will tell him when he joins the academy at age 8. Until then this is all I can do for you." Hiruzen said in a slightly soft voice. "Thank you again, Hokage-sama." She said bowing deeply.

"To go into further details, you both will be keeping an eye from the shadows. If need be you can intervene in any mistreatment of Naruto. If someone is seen harming the boy, you are to drag then to Ibiki at once, is that understood?" Getting a nod from both of them he continued. "I do not want you to baby him however. If you feel he is sick, lead him to the hospital or better yet bring him here. He already sees me as a sort of grandfather figure and I would very much like to keep it that way. He will actually accept treatment if I am with him. Neko-chan, I am sorry for this but that means your will be his primary doctor as well. Is that alright?"

Neko merely nodded before Hiruzen continued. "I also want you both to carry around a few of these seals." He said pulling out a few tags. "These will completely shut down any demonic chakra in Naruto if it ever becomes a problem. With these, the council has agreed to keep him completely my responsibility and are keeping their noses out of it. I would also like to keep it that way."

Letting out a small sigh the Hokage continued. "Lastly, I would like a monthly report from the orphanage on any injury Naruto receives along with how his studies are going. He will most likely be joining the academy at age 8 and I would like him to at least be able to read going in."

Taking one last puff from his pipe, Hiruzen finished. "This is your mission for the next 7 years. One of you will be in his shadow at all times. If one of you would care to drop him off in his bed at the orphanage then your mission will officially begin. Best of luck, and dismissed." Hiruzen said with authority and a smile on his face.

Neko reached down to pick up Naruto and take him to the orphanage. On her trip their she realized that he was really skinny and was borderline malnourished. She would be looking into that as she listened in on Ibiki and the headmistress later that night.

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Naruto woke up just before the sun woke up back in the orphanage. He looked around and saw a small sandwich on his nightstand. He almost fell out of bed trying to cram the whole thing in his mouth.

Naruto starting to panic when he realized that must have been another one of the kids sandwiches. Getting ready to run away he saw no one else was awake. Sitting back down he tried to figure out why he was back here. 'I thought I got away' Naruto told him self before slumping back down.

It was a few minutes later when some of the kids started waking up and walking around. Soon after Naruto's best friend Tenten tackled him crying into his shoulder.

"Where were you last night. I was so worried I thought you got kidnapped." Tenten said in between sobs. "I'm sorry Ten-chan, I got lost walking around and didn't get back until really late." Naruto lied lamely.

Tenten could tell he was lying but the look he was giving her she just couldn't bring herself to ask what really happened. She decided to drop it and started to walk him toward the dining hall.

After a few weeks of Tenten keeping a closer eye on Naruto he finally broke down and told her that he tried to run away.

"Why would you run away from here Naruto-kun?" She asked. She knew that the other kids picked on him but he always seemed to bounce back and never let it bother him. She couldn't think of a reason for him to leave.

"I, I just wanted to get away from here. Everyone is mean to me and I don't want to get beat up anymore." Naruto said looking at the floor.

"But we are friends right, Naruto-kun. Please don't run away. You are the only friend I have made here." Tenten said with tears threatening to run down her cheek.

Naruto might only be 5 years old almost 6, but he was mature enough to not like it when those precious to him were distressed. "I'm sorry Ten-chan. I shouldn't have left like that. I just couldn't take the hitting anymore. Are you still mad at me?" Naruto asked staring at the ground.

Tenten really did like being around Naruto. He was really nice and fun to play with. She also didn't really have anyone else she could call her friend. "No, I just wish you would have talked to me about all this sooner. I didn't know half of what everone was doing to you." She told him looking at the floor with him.

"Can we just go play. I can't sit still this long." Naruto said hopping to his feet and offering his hand to Tenten. "Sure lets go." Tenten said grabbing his hand and standing up.

When she got up Naruto didn't let go and began running with her to the playground. Tenten blushed just a little bit. No one had ever held her hand before and she was glad it was Naruto.

Their play time was short lived however. After keeping an eye on the swingset for a few minutes, a swing finally became available. Naruto offered it to Tenten and he pushed her on it. Tenten had a smile on her face that could have blinded Maito Gai.

He smile was quickly ruined when a large rock struck her in the head. After getting hit she fell out of the swing and landed on her back. He head bounced off the ground and a small amount of blood pooled behind her head and she wasn't moving.

"TENTEN!" Naruto screamed rushing over to her. He saw the blood and started to panic. He didn't know what to do so he started looking around furiously for an adult. He didn't find any around and started to yell for help.

He spotted a group of boys a few yards away laughing and one of them were juggling a rock. Naruto realized this boy probably threw the rock at Tenten just as he threw the second one.

Naruto threw himself in the path of it getting hit in the chest but protecting Tenten. One of the boys laughed at him for protecting such a stupid girl. The three boys starting to approach Naruto. Two of them had sticks and the third threw another rock. This rock hit Naruto in the head and he started to bleed into his eye.

The boys surrounded him and Tenten and one poked Naruto with his stick and the other boy tried to swing at Tenten's face. Naruto dove over her and covered her face with his body.

"Now isn't this sweet. This idiot is protecting the other idiot. It must be spreading." As he finished he swung and hit Naruto again and again. Naruto wanted to protect Tenten and would not leave her no matter what. It was when one last hit to the head made Naruto's arms give out and he collapsed that he heard a faint yell in his head.

"TO DAMN PATHETIC GAKI! STAND AND FIGHT!" After hearing these words Naruto couldn't feel the pain anymore. His eyes snapped open and all he could see was red. A boy had just kicked him in the side and pushed him off of Tenten and was about to hit her when he lost it.

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Neko was in the office with the headmistress of the orphanage while this was happening. She was gathering her report on Naruto's wellness and education just like she did at the end of every month. As always Naruto had been in good health. The fox made sure of that. What bothered Neko was that he was falling behind in his studies.

According to the headmistress, Naruto constantly fell asleep during lessons. Neko had peeked in a few times and, yes, he fell asleep often. She would tell the hokage but other than that wouldn't be able to do anything.

She was just about to finish up when she felt it. The nine-tailed fox. It had been a few years but she knew that feeling. She sprinted out the door and rushed toward the feeling. Both her and Inu had been given a few demonic chakra seals by the hokage. She needed to get there fast before anyone else made it. Last thing she wanted to see what Naruto killed by a trigger happy chunin.

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Naruto after seeing the stick descending on Tenten he jumped up and grabbed it. With the fox's chakra running through him he shattered the stick on contact. He rammed the jagged stick through the boys shoulder and turned to the other two.

The boy that had the other stick dropped it and fainted. The other boy managed to yell and throw the rock in his hand at Naruto. He caught it and threw it back with enough force to shatter upon contact with his head. The shards of the rock dug into the boys eye and destroyed it completely. He made it three steps backwards before Naruto was upon him again slashing at his face with his claws.

Neko saw Naruto glowing with a faint red glow and saw him tackle the third boy. She flashed to his side and grabbed his wrist and slapped the seal to his forehead. Naruto went limp in her arms and she layed him on his back. After checking him over with Shosen-jutsu he started to come back to the point he could understand what was going on.

His eyes snapped open and he shot straight up and looked at Tenten before screaming for her. He managed to crawl to her before Neko put a hand on his shoulder telling her that she would be ok. Naruto looked at her and started to cry before plopping his head into her lap thanking her until he passed back out.

Stroking his hair affectionately she laid him down on the ground and finished the healing of Tenten and stabilizing the other boys. It was then that a squad of anbu led by the hokage dropped and surrounded them.

"Neko-chan, what is everyones condition." The hokage asked with authority. "Naruto is stable and suffered severe bruising along his back and ribs along with a mild concussion. This girl has a concussion as well and lost a lot of blood for such a small wound. These boys, this one went into shock with the hole in his arm. He is fairly stable now but needs to be rushed to the hospital. This boy just fainted he is fine. However this boy is still critical. His skull has a small fracture just above his left eye. The left eye is completely gone, I stopped the bleeding that I could but if he doesn't get to the hospital in a few moments he will most likely die. I am a combat medic, not a surgeon Hokage-sama."

Nodding grimly he ordered his anbu to transport everyone but Naruto to the hospital. Neko scooped up Naruto and started heading to the hokage tower with Hiruzen.

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Entering the office, Hirzen showed visible worry before activating the security seals. "He will be alright, right Neko-chan?" Hiruzen asked with heartbreak all over his voice.

"Of course Hokage-sama. I deeply regret failing my mission. I was lost in thought over Naruto's monthly report that I let my guard down." Neko bowed deeply, her voice nearly cracking with guilt as he glanced at Naruto.

"Humans are not perfect Neko-chan. You were able to prevent the worst of it at least. The council will be throwing a fit after this however. I fear they will call for the boy's head. I really do not wish to find a new council."

After saying this Hiruzen sat in his chair roughly and pulled out a bottle of sake and two cups from a compartment in his desk. Motioning Neko over he began to pour.

"I could really use some of this and drinking alone is never quite as fun." Hiruzen said taking a drink. Neko followed suit and was shocked at the quality. "Is this from Jiraya-sama?" Neko asked obviously shocked. Hiruzen just chuckled and nodded. He didn't share often but now was one of those times.

It was a quiet hour between Neko and Hiruzen before Naruto awoke in a panic. Shooting up from the couch shouting out for Tenten. He made it two steps before he wobbled and fell to his knees and vomited in the middle of Hiruzen's office.

Neko rushed to his aid and sat him down running her Shosen-justu over his head. He started to relax soon with Neko telling him that Tenten is in the hospital getting treatment and would make a full recovery.

After calming down, Naruto finally realized where he was. He turned around and saw Hiruzen smiling at him. He tilted his head down a little before saying, "I'm sorry about puking on your floor Jiji. I didn't mean to, honest."

Hiruzen chuckled softly at Naruto's apology. "It's nothing Naruto, just take it easy and try to feel better. I understand you stood up to some bullies and took quite the beating. Mind telling me what happened?"

After Naruto told the story, how he tried to protect Tenten and started seeing red before he fainted. Hiruzen sent him to stay the night with Neko.

He thought long and hard on it and decided he would have to get the seal checked by Jiraya, and soon. He did not think the seal was weakened, he knew the jutsu that was used to make it and he couldn't imagine it breaking. However, a second opinion would probably be needed. The council would definitely call for blood if he didn't.

Before heading to bed he left a clone to read over as many laws regarding orphans as he could. Making a note of it as he went, he would need all the info if he was to deal with the council in the morning.

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Morning came way to early for Hiruzen as he gathered the council. His headache was already a mile wide and the meeting hadn't started yet. "What have you called us for this early Hokage-sama" A civilian council member in their early 30s said first.

"I am sure that some of you felt the disturbances that occured late yesterday afternoon." Several of the shinobi council members nodded and he continued. "Naruto Uzumaki and his friend Tenten were attacked by three boys in the playground yesterday."

"Are you telling me this meeting is about a playground brawl, what are we wasting our time here for?" another young civilian council member asked. Hiruzen spiked some killer intent and slammed his fist on the table.

"You know why this is important and yet you think it is of no concern. Get the hell out of here. You are obviously not qualified to be on this council if you do not understand the problem at hand here." The Hokage shouted at the councilman.

The councilman was shaking and tried to open his mouth to reply but before he could he found a kunai impaled into the table in front of him. "NOW!" Hiruzen yelled at him.

After the council man stumbled out of the chamber and the seals were replaced the meeting continued. Hiruzen was already happy with its progress. Getting rid of a member of the civilian side put numbers with the shinobi.

"As I was saying." Hiruzen started. "Naruto and his friend were attacked by three young boys. All from the same orphanage. When the headmistress was questioned, she revealed that she had told the kids to harrass young Tenten. Because she did not tell them to attack Naruto directly she was not beheaded where she stood is instead serving out a life sentence for child abuse. This leads me to the purpose of this meeting."

"There is now an orphanage without a headmistress. This leaves 36 children without a home. Other orphanages within the village are exceeding max capacity as well. I will ask everyone within the council if they or anyone they know would be able to take over the orphanage or even adopt some of these children."

The civilian council just stood there and waited, there were some murmurs between the shinobi council about members that would be willing to adopt. Shikaku, Choza and Inoichi all agreed that there would be couples within their respective clans that would be willing to adopt. They would also call a few members to oversee the orphanage for the moment.

"There leaves only one last thing to address then." Hiruzen said with a sigh. "During the attack on his person, Naruto has tapped into the nine-tailed fox's chakra to protect his friend Tenten." The council quickly turned into chaos on the civilian side. "SILENCE" Hiruzen shouted getting everyone to shut up.

"Inoichi, I would like to ask you to take a look at Naruto's mind and make sure he is not influenced by the fox. Is that acceptable." Hiruzen asked kindly. "Is the seal still fully intact Hokage-sama." Inoichi asked.

"To my eye it is still in perfect condition. However, I have recalled Jiraya to come back to the village within the week. He will be double checking the seal." Hiruzen said.

"With your permission Hokage-sama, I would highly prefer to wait until Jiraya checks the seal before I dive into Naruto's mind. I will however begin simple therapy as soon as you wish." Replied Inoichi after a moment of thought.

"This is acceptable Inoichi and thank you. I would like to have you meet with Naruto later today. He is still resting at this time and I will call for you when he is up for it." Nodding Inoichi accepted.

"You cannot be serious Hokage-sama. This demon just attacked and nearly killed three civilian children. It is obvious that the kyubi is beginning to slip through the seal and the boy must be executed at once." The council woman representing the civilian schooling system yelled.

Hiruzen sighed, civilians really did not know anything about the shinobi arts. "I understand why you would think that but this, however, this is a matter concerning shinobi affairs and the civilian council was not called for this part of the discussion. I had hope that the civilian council would have insight to help resolve the orphanage problem but, again, my shinobi council has already solved that problem. If that was all you had to say then shut up and listen before I eject you all and change this from a council meeting to a clan head meeting."

"He is a civilian, therefore we reserve our right to be involved in this matter." An older council woman said with a grin that showed she thought she won.

Hiruzen merely stated that due to a law that the second hokage put into effect before his death, any orphan that happens to be heir to a clan with no other surviving members will be seen as clan head before he is seen as a charge of the village. Therefor, Naruto is already officially the head of a shinobi clan and not a mere civilian.

Upon reaching the rank of genin he would be allowed to receive inheritance and sit in on the council if he so chose to. And after reaching the age of 18 or reaching chunin, he would be allowed to vote on council matters and be encouraged to produce an heir by any means.

Clan Restoration Act, Hiruzen sighed inwardly. I hope Naruto doesn't hate me for being forced to enforce this law when be comes of age. He pushed those thoughts aside as the head of the Uchiha clan spoke up.

"Hokage-sama, I believe with these recent events that Naruto should be kept under tabs at all times. I believe the Uchiha clan is the best to undertake this task. It is said that our sharingan was able to assist the first hokage in capturing the beast in the first place." He said with a smirk.

"Hmmm, yes you do have a fair point. I know you wished to adopt Naruto at an early age but that was not possible. If memory serves, there was a rather talented Uchiha that was preparing to join the anbu a few weeks back correct?" Hiruzen asked looking deep in thought.

Fugaku smiled inwardly, Itachi would be perfect to get the brat on their side. "Yes, Itachi would make for a great anbu to keep an eye on the boy."

Hiruzen chuckled inwardly, he had already spoken to Itachi and knew he was one of the most loyal people he had at his disposal. "You misunderstand, I would like for Itachi-kun just to socialize with Naruto. He would be in a position to asist Naruto far more than if he were an anbu. I feel that having someone show Naruto any form of kindness would do wonders in keeping his emotions in check. Another strong suit for Itachi-kun. He will also be assisting from the shadows but for now I think he should have a face. During this long-term mission I also believe that Itachi-kun can be training to fill the role of anbu captain within a few more years. Keeping him close to Naruto will give him all the time to train that he could need."

Slightly annoyed that he couldn't get the fox under his control before they betrayed the village, the Uchiha clan head accepted the plan and would send Itachi to the hokage that night for his mission.

With all of their business taken care of and everyone more or less happy about the outcome, everyone left the chambers. Hiruzen had thought hard about having Itachi become close to Naruto. Before he was to join the anbu Itachi had told the hokage about a potential betrayal by the Uchiha clan. It was still a long ways away but the threat was there. With that, Itachi became a double agent for the hokage with the impending anbu promotion being a good thing to the Uchiha clan with potential gains in information from it. Itachi was loyal only to the village however and it backfired.

He would have a lot to think about tomorrow and would have to update Inu and Neko. There was the meeting with Inoichi later that day as well. It was already a long day and it was only going to get longer.

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 **Well that is chapter one done. I will probably tweak the chapter a hundred times before I am fully in love with it. Any comments are appreciated and if you PM me expect a full conversation. I have enough ideas in my head to probably make this to at least 100k words.**

 **Where my writer block would come from is the little details building the story up. Just debating on how to give Naruto contact with the fox for the first time took me maybe 5 minutes to work out an idea I liked and then two hours to actually write the whole thing out. This chapter felt a lot longer than I thought it would be and honestly the next chapter will be quite a lot shorter if I had to guess.**

 **Next time - Naruto talking to Inoichi and Itachi for the first time. Tenten recovering. Jiraya and Naruto meeting for the first time. Hopefully if I can fit it in, Naruto meeting lifelong friends... Guess who they will be and win the satisfaction of guessing right... nothing else... Till next time though thanks for reading.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here comes chapter 2 of Trust By My Side. If you made it this far then thank you for that. I gotta say I was going to take a break from writing today after finishing the first chapter. I found myself refreshing the statistics on chapter 1 every 5 minutes to see how many people were checking it out. Its 5am here so probably a horrible time to have posted it but after about 45 minutes someone actually followed the story. It feels like such a rush to me, this being my first story, I just can't put it down.**

 **I want to give a quick shoutout to the people who gave me good advice on last chapter. Hopefully it will make this alot easier to read and won't be quite as choppy. Not going to name names because I have no idea if that is rude or not.**

 **Now so without further delay lets get into it.**

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 **I do not own Naruto**

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Naruto awoke in a strange place. It looked like a home. He pinched himself in the arm and winced. He looked at his arm and saw it was covered in bandages.

He could remember talking to the hokage about what happened at the playground. 'That's right I was hurt pretty bad.' He barely got the thought through his head and cried out "Tenten!"

He barely got the name out of his mouth before a female anbu wearing a neko mask rushed into the room. "Naruto-kun are you alright?" She asked with just the slightest hint of worry. Not that Naruto would notice.

"Yes, thank you very much. Err, where an I?" Naruto asked.

"You are currently at my home. Hokage-sama asked me to let you rest here a little and keep an eye on your injuries. Speaking of, let me give you a quick check up." Neko said in a soft, non-threatning voice. She knew he didn't like doctors and didn't want to scare him off. He still flinched but sat down and didn't run away.

Finishing up his checkup Neko asked him if he was hungry. Naruto's eyes lit up instantly. "Yes, I'm very hungry." Naruto blurted out.

Naruto thought about it for a second, remembering the hokage telling him to always thank anyone who showed him such kindness. He bowed slightly, "Thank you."

Neko almost flinched. His attitude did a complete 180. He showed manners but was really eager to eat. That sort of attitude was a sign of starvation.

She ignored it for now, Inoichi would check him out in a short while anyway.

Neko, after realizing she had paused for a second said, "No problem Naruto-kun I'll go fix something for lunch. Your clothes are on top of the dresser, get dressed, Hokage-sama was wanting to see you again when you were ready."

In the kitchen, Neko threw together a quick sandwich. She really didn't want to make the hokage wait and she really didn't know how to cook anything else. She trained to be a shinobi not a cook after all.

She was shaken out of her thoughts when Naruto into the room and watched her bring the food to the table. 'Is that drool' Neko thought watching him starte the sandwiches down.

"Thank you so much for lunch Neko-onee-chan." Naruto almost shouted before taking a bite of the sandwich in front of him.

Neko smiled behind her mask. She was still just 15 years old, and she had to admit, it had been a while since anyone had given her such an affectionate nickname.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

After a quick lunch Neko and Naruto made their way to the hokage tower. Upon reaching the tower and finally getting to see the hokage Neko and Naruto both stood before him.

Hiruzen could see at a glance Naruto was in much better health than last night. Before they started talking the hokage signaled to an anbu hidden in the wall.

He pulled out a small scroll and handed it to him before wispering something in his ear. Nodding the anbu vanished to carry out his orders. Neko had a hunch what he went to do but remained silent. Naruto however thought that was so cool how he just vanished like that.

After Naruto settled down a bit, they discussed yesterdays events a little more clearly. Naruto talked about 'Tenten-chan' quite affectionately. A detail that neither Hiruzen or Neko passed over.

After a little teasing by the hokage about Naruto's "Girlfriend", which Naruto denied, Hiruzen felt someone disturb the seal. He lowered it and heard a knock on the door.

As the door opened, Inoichi Yamanaka entered. "Good afternoon Hokage-sama." Inoichi said with a small bow. "Good afternoon Inoichi-san, thank you for getting here in such a timely manner. I trust you read my note." Hiruzen said with a smile.

"Of course Hokage-sama." Inoichi replied. "Well I would say now is as good a time as any. Naruto-kun, this is Inoichi Yamanaka. He is the head of the Yamanaka clan. They specialize in the workings of the mind. I asked him if he could talk to you about yesterday." Hiruzen said with a smile.

Naruto cocked his head to the side with a confused look on his face. "I don't understand Jiji, why did you want us to talk." "Well Naruto, when you and Tenten-san were attacked by kids from the orphanage, I was worried you wouldn't be able to go back. I wanted Inoichi here to see be a second opinion if you would suffer from anything long term from your attack. It is common after all." Hiruzen said smoothly. He couldn't tell Naruto the whole truth even if he wanted to.

Naruto still looked confused but nodded anyway. Inoichi introduced himself and just chatted with Naruto for a short while before asking any questions about what happened.

Naruto averted his eyes to the hokage and Neko a few times when Inoichi hit a sore spot in his past. Seeing this Inoichi went over to the hokage's desk and dropped him a small note in front of him.

The note simply said, 'Possible distrust of strangers and reliance on familiar faces to be able to adapt to new social interactions. I would like to test this but it would require you and Neko-san to leave the room for a few minutes. Neko-san can stay in the wall and watch as well in case he panics. I believe this to be unhealthy but fixable while he is still this young.' Hiruzen nodded and stood up.

"Neko-chan, could you accompany me for a moment, I need go over a few things." Hiruzen said. "Of course Hokage-sama." Neko replied standing up as well. They both walked out the door and closed it behind them.

Inoichi took a sip of water and got back to talking with Naruto.

The change was almost night and day. The door closing caused Naruto to noticibly flinch, his eyes also seemed to widen a bit.

Inoichi cringed internal. 'The orphanage must be terrible if he responds this bad to a one on one confrontation with someone he has known for almost an hour now.'

Inoichi tried to continue with the conversation but Naruto was showing signs of fear and distrust. Without a constant in his life he may recede further into his shell. 'That Tenten girl must be important to him if he can handle an orphanage full of people without cracking.' Inoichi thought with a sense of dread.

This just turned into months of therapy instead of weeks. Not that he minded of course, he liked Naruto after all. He was a very honest kid with a good sense of right and wrong.

He just had to figure out how he could get him to at least get people to arms reach without knowing them for months.

It was a moment later when the Hokage and Neko returned. Naruto instantly settled down a little, revealing that he was stitting very rigidly while they were gone.

The hokage felt his heart break a little at that. He didn't want to cause Naruto any pain, and that is exactly what he had just done.

Neko had to resist the urge to run over to him and make sure he was alright. She wasn't going to let someone who saw her as an older sister suffer.

Inoichi turned and nodded grimly at the Hokage. Hiruzen knew exactly what it meant and nodded back before taking his seat back at his desk.

The sun was just starting to set and Naruto looked absolutely ragged. Hiruzen understood the seriousness of the situation, and Inoichi was the best person to solve it. He just couldn't stand it anymore today.

Hiruzen stood up and stretched a little bit. "It is getting a little late, Naruto-kun, would you like to go out and get something to eat." Hiruzen said with a smile.

Naruto felt all of the tiredness wash away and jumped up. "Yatta, you know it Jiji. Can we go to Ichiraku's?" Naruto asked with excitement in his voice.

"Of course Naruto-kun. Neko-chan, Inoichi-san, if you would like to join us, I will pick up the bill." Hiruzen said motioning toward the door.

"Thank you very much Hokage-sama. That sounds great." Neko and Inoichi both said with a small bow. Naruto practically yelled, "Then let's go!" before he starting skipping down the hall singing about ramen.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Dinner at Ichiraku's was fairly quiet. Ayame was worried about Naruto and his bandages. He got her to calm down and managed to get down a few large bowls of ramen before Inoichi said he should really be getting back home.

"I will have a full report on your desk first thing tomorrow morning Hokage-sama." Inoichi said quiet enough that Naruto wouldn't hear him. Hiruzen nodded and sent him on his way.

Back in the resturant Naruto realized something was missing. It took him a moment but it finally hit him like a brick to the head.

"Jiji, can we go visit Tenten-chan." Naruto asked with worry all over his voice. Hiruzen thought it over. It wasn't too late yet but he needed to get back to his paper work.

"Neko-chan, would you mind taking Naruto-kun to see Tenten in the hospital?" Hiruzen asked politely.

"Of course Hokage-sama. We should hurry though Naruto-kun. We wouldn't want to keep her up all night after all." Neko said, getting up from her stool and heading toward the exit.

"See you all later, thanks for dinner Jiji." Naruto said with a wide smile. Hiruzen chuckled and waved goodbye as Naruto ran to catch up to Neko.

Hiruzen turned back to Teuchi and said, "Here is a little extra, next time you see Naruto walk by give him a free bowl of ramen for me. Just say it's on the house." Teuchi took the money and bowed to him.

"Thank you for the continued support. The gaki is a good kid and I gotta say, seeing him so skinny breaks my heart." Hiruzen nodded grimly. He knew it as well.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Upon reaching the hospital, Neko approached the front desk with Naruto hiding behind her. He hated the hospitals, ever since they hurt him worse that he was when he entered. He gave a slight shutter at that thought.

"I am looking for a young girl named Tenten, could you point me toward her room?" Neko asked in a soft voice.

The nurse behind the front desk nodded before checking for the information. "Yes she is in room 210. She is awake and can accept visitors. However visiting hours are going to be up soon. Please make it a short visit Anbu-san."

"Of course, thank you. Come on Naruto-kun lets go." Neko said while walking toward the staircase heading to the second floor.

"Uhh Anbu-san. The gaki you got following you is not allowed in here." The receptionist said with venom dripping from her voice.

Turning to stare the woman down, Neko saw the pure hate in her eyes. "And why is that?" Neko asked, the threatening tone very noticeable to the poor woman.

The receptionist gulped. "He, he is a menace and his kind will not-" That is as far as she got before Neko slammed her fist on the desk.

"That is not your call to make. This hospital was founded by the Senju clan and in the absence of Lady Tsunade, Hokage-sama has been charged with its upkeep. You will be silent and get the notion that you can turn away anyone you want out of your head or I will see to it that you find an early and permanent retirement. Do you understand?" Neko said with promises of pain and suffering all over her voice.

The woman behind the desk's legs started to wobble and she then peed herself from the pure killing intend Neko was leaking.

Neko turned around and softly said to Naruto. "Well then, shall we go see your Tenten-chan?" She said in a slightly teasing tone. Naruto was to dumbstruck to say anything and just nodded.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Entering the room and seeing Tenten looking tired nearly broke Naruto's heart. 'I should have protected her better.' Naruto thought with his head starting to stare at the floor.

Neko saw this and guessed what was going through his head. She gave him a slight nudge and coughed, getting Tenten's attention.

"How are you feeling Tenten-chan?" Naruto asked quietly. Tenten stared at him in shock for a moment.

"Naruto-kun, what, what happened to you?" Tenten asked with a lot of shock in her voice.

Naruto flinched. Tenten sounded angry at him and he didn't want to cause her to worry. "I, I got beat up. It's ok though, I'm fine, honest." Naruto said, although not very believably.

"Naruto-kun," Tenten started, finally noticing the anbu staring at her. "why are you being escorted by an anbu. Did you get in trouble?"

"Ah, nothing like that Tenten-san. I was just the first one to respond to you and Naruto-kun being attacked. Hokage-sama asked me to make sure he doesn't get in anymore trouble today." Neko said evenly.

Tenten wasn't sure. The leader of the village asked one of the highest ranked ninja to watch Naruto after a playground fight. Seemed fishy, but she was too grateful for her protecting Naruto to say anything.

Neko idly glanced at Tenten's chart while her and Naruto chatted. 'She certainly got a nice bump on the head, but why wasn't she released this morning. Everything points to her having made a full recovery after treatment last night. I understand keeping her overnight, but two days for the possibility of a minor concussion. Something doesn't seem right here.'

After a few moments, Naruto and Tenten got quiet for a moment. Neko decided to just ask Tenten what the doctors told her about staying another night.

"Well, the nurse told me that I was ready to go home today. A bit later a doctor came in and said that they were waiting on one more test and it might take a while. After about an hour he came back and said that the results were bad and that I would have to stay again." Tenten said kind of worried.

'That just confuses me further. The nurse would have had to get the doctor to sign off on her release forms. No matter how I look at it, they are keeping her for no reasons. The tests they were waiting for was a blood test. It was completely irrelevant to her condition.' Neko thought.

She wanted to talk to the doctor about this obvious malpractice. She looked down and checked the name of the doctor before heading toward the door.

"I am going to go talk to the doctor. If the nurse said you were ready to be released, you shouldn't be stuck in here." Neko said as he left the room.

Naruto and Tenten just looked at each other as she left. Naruto explained that she was a doctor too and if she thought it was weird, it was weird.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Marching through the hospital, back to the front desk, Neko was deep in thought. 'There is something going on or this hospital needs some new, competent, doctors.'

She made it to the desk to find a new receptionist sitting there. "What can I help you with Anbu-san?" The receptionist asked.

"I'm looking for Dr. Maro, have you seen him?" Neko asked, trying to sound as friendly as she could.

"Dr. Maro might still be in his office. Head down the hallway here, you will see his nameplate. Can you tell him to come up front after you talk to him?" The receptionist asked.

'At least this girl is professional.' Neko thought. "Sure thing."

As she walked toward Maro's office, she really didn't know exactly what she was going to say to him. She thought he was a quack at this point but really did not have any proof. Neko couldn't really figure out why this was getting her so worked up. Must have been the oath the took when she took some field medic training.

When she finally got to his office, she noticed the door was open, the light was on, and he was nowhere to be seen. Shrugging she turned back to the receptionist.

Upon her arrival the receptionist thanked her for telling Dr. Maro to come up front.

"I didn't see Dr. Maro. He wasn't in his office." Neko explained.

"That's odd, he said he saw you before he headed upstairs." The nurse explained, shrugging and looking back at her paperwork.

Neko decided to just head back to Tenten's room and keep an eye out for Maro. She got to the bottom of the stairs before she heard a scream.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Back in the room. Tenten and Naruto talked a bit more about what they were going to do when she got out. Naruto said he would ask Jiji for some money to go get her some real food at Ichiraku's. This got Tenten to

smile and it made Naruto feel like the sun was upon him.

It was a few moments later that the door opened. "Welcome back Neko-ohh, sorry doctor, I thought you were Neko." Naruto said as he saw the doctor come in.

"Doctor, can I go back home. I feel fine." Tenten asked.

"Sorry dear, but you needed to stay put." The doctor replied with a lopsided grin.

"I don't understand, what do you mean?" Tenten asked with a bit of concern on her face.

The doctor began to chuckle darkly. Naruto took a step backwards. He felt like this doctor was glaring holes in him.

"You are close to this demon after all. It worked out well giving him a chance to visit." The doctor said, full on laughing at this point.

Naruto took a step toward Tenten and put himself in between her and the mad doctor. The doctor pulled out a knife and Tenten screamed as loud as she could.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Neko heard the scream and sprinted up the stairs and kicked in the door. What she saw was Dr. Maro with a knife in Naruto's chest, pushing him against the wall. Tenten was trying to scratch his eyes out, but the mans left arm kept her at bay. Neko did not hesitate.

In one swift movement she unsheathed her sword and lopped the mans right arm off at the shoulder. She grabbed him by the head and threw him backwards into the opposite wall.

She dropped her sword and rushed to Naruto's aide. He had a 6 inch knife buried up to the handle in his chest. She knew at a glance it missed his heart. She threw a large smoke bomb out the window and detonated it

in hopes it would draw some more anbu and hopefully another anbu medic.

Tenten was a wreck. She realized that she was used as bait to get to Naruto. She cried and screamed for Naruto. She saw him slowly falling asleep. Her young mind couldn't take the stress of what was happening and she fainted.

Neko was relieved when she fainted. It would make it alot easier to focus. She had to keep Naruto awake at all costs. With this severe of an injury, if he passed out the fox might try to take over.

"Naruto-kun stay awake, you have to stay awake." She said frantically. She had removed the knife and began repairing what she could. It was going to be close but he would survive. He would be sore in the morning though.

Just when she had gotten him stabilized to the point his life was no longer in immediate danger, he blacked out.

Moments later Itachi Uchiha came through the window. With a small bow he asked, "Neko-san, is there any way I can be of assistance."

Neko turned and looked at Itachi. The hokage had already told her that he would be assisting watching Naruto so she trusted him. "Just get that trash over there to Ibiki-san as fast as you can. He will most likely bleed out soon. Just burn the stump closed. Ibiki-san can handle it from there."

Nodding Itachi made two shadow clones and held the man still. He channeled fire chakra into his hand and closed it around the stump. After completely burning the stump closed the clones picked him up and carried him out the window toward T&I.

"Is anyone else coming Itachi-san?" Neko asked. "Yes, I sent a clone to Hokage-sama's home and to the anbu headquarters. A squad of anbu left 2 minutes ago and should be here in just a second. Hokage-sama just walked out his front door." Itachi said with a nod.

"Thank you for that. I'm glad someone saw the smoke at least." Neko said. "Also fortunate we are in the hospital." She said as she finished stitching the hole in Naruto's chest closed.

Neko took a few deep breaths and walked over to Tenten. Giving her a quick once over, she confirmed she just fainted and was fine.

She sat down and waited for the anbu and the Hokage to arrive.

After the Hokage arrived, he ordered the anbu to search Maro's office for anything relating to the assassination attempt.

Coming up empty they were called off. After a few moments of silence Neko spoke up.

"Hokage-sama, I feel the hospitals security has been completely compromised. Naruto-kun is no longer safe here. With your permission, I would have him stay at my home until he is physically fit." Neko said with a little worry in her tone.

"Yes, that would probably be for the best. While the shinobi medic-nin have enough common sense to not try and kill the boy, we have to investigate everyone now. Itachi-kun, please go with her and keep an eye out tonight. Report back to me in the morning with an update on Naruto-kun's health." Hiruzen said after a moment.

Itachi nodded and agreed. "Should we also watch over this girl, Hokage-sama?" Itachi asked.

Hiruzen looked to Neko with a questioning look. Neko sighed, "It will not be a problem Hokage-sama." "Thank you Neko-chan." Hiruzen said as he stood up to head back home. "Keep all of this under wraps for now. I will see Ibiki in the morning and we will go from there." Hiruzen finished and walked out the door.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

 **Well I did not get anywhere near as far in this chapter as I thought I would. I hit a bit of a snag with how I wanted to progress at the upcoming part and need to fix it. I decided instead of just sitting on what I have so far I would just post it as a slightly shorter chapter. If I had gone through with everything I wanted in this chapter it would have been at least twice as long as the first chapter. Instead I'm going to break it up a bit while I brainstorm.**

 **I got these first two chapters out within three days of actually starting to type them out. A few weeks of planning before that of course but still feels like I am blazing through this first part. It also seems like I am not going anywhere. I am rather meticulous about getting as much as I can into the pre-story before I get to the actual ninja business. I'm pumping these chapters out so I'm not going to worry about it too much. Let me know what you all think though. I will reply to everything I can. Hopefully I can get the next chapter out within two days now. I will not be able to keep that up when I get further into the story but until a few chapters after the end of the academy I should be able to do at least 2 chapters a week. Till then, thanks for reading.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks again for everyone that enjoys the start of this fiction. All of the reviews, favorites and alerts really boost confidence immensely. It really is something to chat with someone about something you created for a bit and get feedback. Truly an amazing feeling.**

 **At the end of chapter two I said I had hit a bit of a snag. I think I have it worked out enough I can continue. Still not 100% on my idea yet but if I get a little bit further I think I will find a suitable solution.**

 **The author notes at the end of the chapter is going to be long. Warning ahead of time.**

 **Lastly, I apologize for the long delay in between the last chapter and this one. I had the constant feeling that this chapter is really slow overall. I am not that pleased with how slow it is progressing and am going to be going considerably faster after this chapter. If anyone thinks that I leave out details after doing this, hit me up.**

 **I am going to be going a little faster until the academy and then slowing back down again.**

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

 **I do not own Naruto**

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

After a short walk with their charges in their arms, Neko and Itachi made it to Neko's apartment.

It wasn't anything fancy. Just a simple 1 bedroom apartment with an empty spare room turned into a guest bedroom.

Neko sat Naruto down into the couch and walked to hallway closet. She pulled out two futons and laid them out in the spare room.

Itachi laid Tenten down into the futon, still in her hospital gown, and pulled the covers over her. Walking back toward the living room he saw Neko changing Naruto's bandages.

Itachi looked at him with indifference. He could see the obvious signs of malnourishment but it was not his place to say anything. He would mention it in his report, but nothing more was needed.

Neko however, was completely disgusted. When she first repaired the damage to his chest, she was in such a hurry she didn't get that good of a look at him. Now, without bandages, no life or death situations, all she could see was skin and bones.

'No wonder he couldn't focus in the orphanage classrooms. It had to take constant effort to even stay awake. Something else to add to my report.' Neko thought.

"Itachi-san, could you have a clone run a quick delivery for me?" Neko asked as she started to write down a short note.

"The Akimichi family clan head should be home at this time so shouldn't be a problem." Itachi said in a flat voice.

"How did you know I was going to send you there?" Neko asked, her voice betraying the slight amount of shock.

"Your body language while examining Naruto-san suggested that you were disgusted with his current state of malnourishment. From that I assumed you would ask me to retrieve a remedy from the Akimichi family. It is also only logical to go to the clan head with regards to Naruto-san, as he knows fully of his importance to the village" Itachi replied in a simple, calculating voice.

"Yes, I would ask of them for something to help with malnourishment. Please just pass this on to the clan head and bring back whatever they recommend. If necessary just tell them who it is for." Neko said with just the slightest amount of authority.

"It will be done." Itachi said as he made a clone to carry out the task.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

It was a few hours later, late into the night when Naruto finally awoke.

Sitting up Naruto looked around for a moment before realizing he was back at Neko's home.

'I keep winding up here don't I.' Naruto idly thought as he stood up, with a little effort. 'I'm alive, how am I alive?' He thought until he looked as his bandaged chest. 'Duh, Neko healed me. I should go thank her again.'

With this thought Naruto walked to the door that led to the living room. Before he opened it, he heard giggling. 'Sounds like Tenten-chan.' Naruto thought before he paused a little longer.

As he listened in, he came to a few conclusions. Tenten was truly the best friend a boy could ever hope for. Neko seemed like she really did think of him as a younger brother. Lastly, whoever the other guy in the room was, he really didn't talk much.

Before Naruto had time to think much more on it, the door was opened by Neko.

"Naruto-kun, you really shouldn't be moving around yet. You were stabbed in the chest for crying out loud." Neko said, using her best scolding voice she could.

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Sorry Neko-onee-chan. I kind of forgot, you are so good of a medic it didn't hurt anymore." Naruto said with the brightest smile he could muster.

Neko sighed in defeat. It was impossible to stay mad at him. He was just too innocent after all. "It's all right Naruto-kun, just please, please, if you get hurt again, wait for the doctors permission before you start moving around." She said.

"I forgot," Naruto started before bowing a little, "thank you for healing me again, Neko-onee-chan."

"Well come on, your little Tenten-chan has been worried sick about you." Neko said with a slightly teasing tone. Naruto followed, although a little red in the cheeks.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

As Naruto came into the living room, Tenten shot up and charged strait at him, looking to hug him. "Naruto-kun you are ok!" She practically yelled as she ran.

Before she could glomp him, Itachi stood up and grabbed her shirt. (Neko had given her a large t-shirt).

"You should be careful, you don't re-open his wounds Tenten-san." Itachi said flatly.

"Uhh, yes, sorry, ok." Tenten said quickly trying to wiggle out of Itachi's grasp.

Itachi released her and she ran to stand right in front of Naruto. Tears started to roll down her face as she tried to speak.

"Why didn't you run away?" Tenten stammered out. Naruto didn't understand. "What do you mean Tenten-chan. There was a crazy doctor guy with a knife. Was I supposed to try and run away and leave you behind?" Naruto said.

Tenten had no idea how to reply to that. She had thought he was stupid for not running. It completely slipped her mind that he was wanting to protect her.

"Sorry." Tenten whispered. "Don't be. It was just the first thing that came to mind. I didn't really think about running." Naruto whispered back.

With their conversation coming to an end, Neko decided she should talk. "Naruto-kun, you should eat something. You have been unconscious for most of the night."

After throwing together a quick meal everyone sat down to eat. Most of the conversation was just trying to talk out the shock of someone trying to assassinate Naruto. At the end of the meal however Neko pulled out a small green pill.

"Naruto-kun, I need you to swallow this pill for me." Neko said as gently as she could. "Uhh, sure One-chan." Naruto said, taking the pill.

Naruto swallowed the pill and Neko was actually a little surprised. 'With how much he hated doctors, I assumed getting him to take medicine would be impossible. He must really trust me.'

It took a few minutes but the pill finally started to get to work.

"Uhh, Onee-chan, I feel a little funny." Naruto said as he grabbed his stomach. Deciding it was the pill, but still wanting to show that she would be there to assist, she walked over to him and started to check him over.

"Yes, Naruto-kun, it is the pill starting to work." She said softly, pausing to try and get the right words out.

"You are malnourished Naruto-kun, the pill will repair your body but it will take time. You are going to have to take one a day, for at least a month." She said.

"Onee-chan, what's malnourished mean?" Naruto said, after he barely understood what Neko was talking about.

"Right, malnourished means you haven't been eating right. It will make you weaker when you grow up. That is what the pill is for. It should start to repair your body so you will grow up big and strong." Neko said in an almost motherly voice.

Naruto understood the part of the pill making him big and strong. He still didn't understand malnourished but the way he looked at it, Neko was looking out for him with the pills.

"Thank you again Neko-onee-chan. You have helped me so much, is there any way I can repay you?" Naruto said with a bow.

'How the hell does he keep doing that." Neko thought in shock. 'One moment I feel like I am trying to get a kid to take his medicine, the next it feels like I just saved a full grown man's life. More for the report I suppose.'

"Don't mention it Naruto-kun." Neko said rather lamely.

After a little more idle chatting, Tenten and Naruto started to fall asleep. Leading them back to the guest bedroom, Neko saw them to sleep. Returning to the living room she sat across from Itachi.

"Well, Itachi-san, what are your thoughts on this. I cannot care for him 24/7 like this. There is also not an orphanage that can accept him anymore." Neko said, a little downcast.

"His ability to adapt to any form of stress is astounding. Add that with how mature he is capable of showing without any form of ninja training, I would advise an apartment to be set aside for him. There are laws in place for such an occasion and it would make it slightly easier to keep in close contact without seeming suspicious." Itachi replied in a calculating tone.

'Itachi truly is a phenomenal shinobi, I have been thinking this over for weeks and he comes up with a better idea within hours.' Neko thought, staring at Itachi.

"I will put the suggestion in my report. The next problem would be what do we do with Tenten. If we toss her back to an orphanage. The civilians may still go after her to hurt Naruto-kun. If she is adopted into a civilian family, Naruto-kun would never be able to see her again. Even if she goes to a ninja family, odds are slim. That could cause him enough emotional turmoil to commit suicide and render the seal void." Neko said grimly.

Itachi knew of the fox. It was part of his mission after all. While he did not know what would happen if Naruto killed himself, he knew that if Tenten was killed, the odds of the fox being set free were very high.

"At this point in time, the safety of both should be preserved. Both may become targets so separation at this time would be unwise." Itachi said, pondering any other solutions in his head.

Both quieted down, thinking hard on what to do. They both shared similar views on how to keep Naruto safe, so there was no conflict of interests there.

They both pulled out scrolls and began writing their reports for the hokage in the morning. Upon completion they decided one of them should stay awake in case anything went on.

Neko slept first before letting Itachi catch a little sleep himself.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

As morning rolled around, both Neko and Itachi were awake with the rising of the sun. They both agreed that both kids would be asleep for some time still. They however could not decide how they would go to report to the hokage.

"We cannot leave them here alone." Neko started before Itachi cut her off. "There is no need anymore." Itachi replied heading toward the door.

Opening the door before a knock could be heard, Itachi revealed Inu standing there sheepishly.

"Neko-chan and Itachi-san you are to both turn in your reports at once. I will stay behind for the mission." Inu said, letting himself in.

"Inu-taichou, with that everything is sorted out, thank your for your, timely, arrival." Neko said with a hint of amusement in her voice.

"Let us be off then" Itachi said before heading to the rooftops toward the hokage tower.

Neko let out a barely audible sigh before following suit.

Inu looked around a bit and found Naruto and Tenten asleep in the guest bedroom. They both seemed at peace at least that was a good sign. Deciding they were fine, he headed back toward the living room before the scent of coffee caught his attention. Grabbing a cup he sat down in the living room and pulled out his favorite orange book.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

It was only a few minutes that that Neko and Itachi arrived at the hokage tower. Taking a seat in the waiting area, they waited for his current meeting to be done with.

It was only about 10 minutes before Inoichi exited the Hokage's office.

"Ah Inoichi-sama, are you in a hurry to be anywhere else at the moment." Neko said as she stood up.

"No, I do not have anywhere to be for at least another hour or so. What did you need Neko-san?" Inoichi said as he stopped heading toward the exit.

"Well, we were here to give a report and I believe your expertise of the mind may prove to be invaluable." Neko said evenly.

"Well I can certainly listen in and give you my opinions if Hokage-sama allows it." Inoichi said with a shrug.

"Thank you Inoichi-sama. Let's go ahead and begin then." Neko said as she knocked on the door to the Hokage's office. "Enter" Hiruzen said through the door.

"Good morning, Hokage-sama. We are here to give our reports over our charges of last night." Neko said, bowing.

"Ah yes, but why have you brought Inoichi-sama with you." Hiruzen said skeptically.

"There may be some more, mental, issues than first thought. Inoichi-sama agreed to give his input on such problems." Neko said.

"Very well, proceed." Hiruzen said, putting down the papers he was going through.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

It took a while, but eventually the meeting was over. They discussed how malnourished Naruto was and that they had already taken care of it. Inoichi was needed for the odd behavior Naruto was displaying with near bi-polar attitude.

Inoichi agreed to take a deeper look at him when Jiraya was able to confirm the seal's integrity.

Other topics were what to do with him and Tenten. First thought were to have someone adopt him. Inoichi offered to take them both in but the idea was shot down by Hiruzen.

When Naruto was first born, it was decided that he could not be adopted into a clan. The main reasoning was that it would give a single clan too much power when he grew up. Another reason was they could not give the Uchiha a possible way to gain control of the fox. They were under enough suspicion at the time anyway.

Also, if he were to be adopted, his own inheritance would be given over to whoever adopted him and Hiruzen just flat didn't trust anyone enough with that.

Inoichi understood, if it was a little hesitantly however.

From what Neko and Itachi's reports hinted at, Hiruzen decided it would be very important to keep Tenten and Naruto in contact in some form. For the time being, that meant staying with Neko.

The excuse that they would have to use was that the hospital was still going through investigation after Naruto's failed assassination.

Everyone seemed to agree and with that taken care of, everyone was dismissed until Jiraya was to return in two days.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Upon their return to Neko's apartment, they found themselves looking at a rather odd scene.

In the back of the apartment building there was a small park. In said park, Naruto and Tenten were not playing on the swings or going down the slide. No, they were instead watching Inu show how to properly throw a kunai.

Itachi understood that Naruto was going to become a ninja at some point and by the time he was his age, he was already a shinobi. Training at this age was normal by his standards.

Neko was a little more reserved. She had been trained at his age as well, but seeing him try to throw kunai made her a little nervous.

"Inu-taichou, what the hell are you doing?" Neko asked sweetly.

"Well little Naruto-kun and Tenten-chan saw the kunai on my leg and asked me about them. So I decided to throw a few. They though it was really cool and wanted to learn how to do it so dulled a few a little bit and here we are." Inu said rubbing the back of his head.

Neko was about to argue when she saw Tenten grab a kunai and fling it strait into the tree she was aiming at.

"How long have you been at it Inu-taichou?" She asked a little less angrily.

"Well I would guess I let them start throwing them about 20 minutes ago." Inu said, looking deep in thought.

'She managed to actually stick one into the tree after only 20 minutes. Add that to how bad Inu-taichou is at teaching, she might be a prodigy herself.' Neko thought, completely missing Itachi walking past her to talk to Naruto.

"How is your training going Naruto-kun." Itachi asked as straightforwardly as he could.

"Well, I, suck at throwing them. Why would you throw a knife anyway." Naruto said, mostly to himself however.

Itachi thought on it for a second. It was rather difficult for him to talk to such a young child that wasn't from a shinobi family. At least a living one.

"Well if you practice enough, you wouldn't have a chance to get caught if you beat your enemy from a distance." Itachi said, the simplest thing he could think of.

"Well I saw a ninja shoot a huge fireball before. Why not use those instead?" Naruto asked innocently enough.

"Sadly in this day in age that seems to be everyone's thought process." Itachi said, with a slight downcast expression. No one would ever notice however because he didn't really change all that much.

"Lets say you can make 10 fireballs before you become tired." Itachi started. "Now you can carry, say, 100 kunai. If you shoot one fireball, then everyone is going to know where you are at and chase you. Now if you hit them with a kunai, they wouldn't see or hear you and you would be able to stay hidden. Everyone seems to think that the flashier the technique, the better it is. I feel that is completely the wrong approach."

"I get it. So instead of just looking cool, being sneaky would be better." Naruto said with a bit of a grin. He may not have realized it just yet, but that was some of the best advice he would be getting in his career.

"Exactly, there is always a way to win a fight before it starts. By avoiding large scale battle, many lives are saved." Itachi said, with Naruto eating every word of it up.

Naruto went off on his own little world. Dreaming of being a super awesome ninja. Taking down hundreds of people at once, sneaking around with them never seeing him.

He was broken out of his dream world when he heard Tenten shout out in joy. He snapped his head around to look at he and she was yelling, "I did it!" pointing at the tree she was throwing kunai at.

Naruto glanced at the tree to see three kunai sticking out of it.

Naruto was happy for her but annoyed that he couldn't do it yet.

Itachi didn't really have any thoughts about it.

Neko was impressed with the girls quick learning of how to throw kunai.

Inu just eye smiled. He was such a good teacher after all.

"Very well done Tenten-san" Inu said. "Maybe I should give you a real target."

Inu walked over to the tree she had been throwing at, pulled her three kunai out, and took a few steps back. Flashing through a few seals he made a small earth wall. Pulling out a sheet a paper, he pinned it to the wall and started walking back to Tenten.

"There we go. That should make for a nice level two in kunai training." Inu said giving himself a mental pat on the back. He should offer to train more people.

Tenten narrowed her gaze at her new target and tossed her three kunai at it. The first hit the wall a little to the right. The second bounced off the paper. The third was just a little low.

Inu was again impressed. He thought it would take her a few more hours to get her grouping that close to the target.

When she came back to where she was throwing her kunai from she asked Inu. "Inu-san, if this is level two what is level three?"

Inu stroked his chin. He was kind of kidding about the level two thing but figured he should go along.

"Level three would be doubling the distance of the throw." Inu said with confidence.

"What about level four then?" Naruto chimed in.

"Smaller target further away." Inu said simply running out of ideas.

"Well then what is the hardest level?" Naruto said thinking he could do all of these easy enough.

"I can answer that." Itachi spoke up as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small copper coin with a small square hole in the center. (Think ancient Chinese currency. Ill put a description of the currency in this fic at end of chapter.)

He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them revealing his Sharingan.

Naruto and Tenten quirked their heads a bit at this but didn't say anything.

Itachi then tossed the coin at the wall in front of them and tossed two kunai in that direction.

He ricocheted the second kunai off the first and pinned the coin to the wall.

Naruto and Tenten were standing there with their jaws dragging on the floor.

Neko sighed.

Inu was shaking his head. "Did you really need to use your sharingan for that."

Itachi just nodded. "Well I wanted it to look easier that it is, so yes."

Tenten and Naruto didn't get what they were talking about so they asked what the sharingan was.

"It is my doujutsu." Itachi said as he activated his sharingan. "With these eyes I can see chakra, copy jutsu and predict enemy movements to an extent. They are sent down the Uchiha bloodline, so only my family has them."

Inu chuckled at the dry explanation and thought of showing the kids his sharingan eye to mess with them. He decided against it for now. He was still an anbu at the moment.

"That's so cool." Naruto said, still amazed. He was a little jealous if he had to admit it. They looked so cool after all and sounded strong.

Tenten would agree they looked cool, but she knew that it wasn't the eyes that made someone strong.

"With enough practice, you could do it as well. Just make sure if you want to become shinobi you take your training seriously. It would not be wise to take your future for granted when your training is the only thing between life and death." Itachi said grimly.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head and Tenten just nodded.

"Well then I had better get started now." Naruto said as he turned back toward the tree he was tossing kunai at.

"Well then, I think that's a fair idea. Your still under observation so don't strain yourself too much. I'll be back in a bit." Neko said, as she left into the town.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

A day and a half passes rather quickly. Inu came by every morning and supervised Naruto and Tenten's kunai training. Naruto finally managed to get more of them to stick to the tree than bounced off. Tenten had managed to hit the smaller target more times than not.

Inu was pleased with their progress. Day three and they were both showing a growing interest in being shinobi. They both were also showing devotion to training. Something he saw a decline in the last few years.

He devoted everything he had of his childhood to training and had a lot to show for it. But there were so many fresh genin that just did not seem to have that drive to advance quickly.

'If they both continue to take this as seriously as they are now, they could both hit chunin at an early age.' Inu thought with a smile in his eye.

He had started them on their path and hoped he would be there to advance them further in it as well.

Neko was pleased that in a few months, both Naruto and Tenten would be capable of protecting themselves from the stupidity of the civilian populace.

Itachi has managed to get a bit closer to Naruto and Tenten as well. They both saw him as nice enough, if not a little odd overall.

However, today wasn't to be as simple as the last two. Today Jiraya was returning to the village to take a look at Naruto's seal.

Neko knew that they were going to be talking about sensitive subjects so she let Inu lead Naruto to the meeting. She had zero knowledge in fuinjutsu and while Inu only had a little, it was better he go overall.

In the meantime, she decided to take Tenten on a shopping trip. They picked up some groceries and decided to pick Tenten up a new change of clothes.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

In the Hokage's office, Naruto had just been introduced to Jiraya. They talked for a few minutes before getting down to business.

"Ok Naruto, as you know I am known as the greatest fuinjutsu master of the village. The reason Sensei asked me to talk to you, is that a few days ago you were attacked and managed to save yourself with an unknown power correct." Jiraya asked sternly.

Naruto started to sweat a little but nodded none the less.

Jiraya continued. "Well I honestly don't know how to sugar coat this so I'm just going to say it. The power that saved you was the power of the nine tailed fox that has been sealed inside you since you were born."

Seeing Naruto start to shake, he decided to just hurry up and skip the history lesson.

"When the fourth hokage defeated the fox, he could not kill his to he sealed it. The strongest seal he knew had to be placed on a human. If that human was not exceptionally young, it would have most likely killed whoever it was placed on. With that in mind you were the only child born that day and it was sealed in you." Jiraya said, softening his voice a bit.

It was a lie but it was close enough to the truth that it got the point across.

"So I am the nine tailed fox?" Naruto said, looking completely broken at this point.

"No." Jiraya said bluntly.

Jiraya pulled out a small scroll and unrolled it onto the floor. He pointed to the center of it.

"This is a sealing scroll. It is quite similar to the seal you have, although quite a bit weaker." Jiraya explained as he pumped some chakra into it.

As he pumped chakra into it, two small orange books appeared in the middle of the scroll.

"While the scroll represents you, thiese books represents the fox. Do you understand?" Jiraya asked.

Naruto just looked at him a little confused and still a little depressed.

Jiraya sighed and resealed the books before throwing the scroll at Naruto.

"Hey, why did you throw the scroll at me?" Naruto asked rubbing his throbbing head.

"What are you talking about. I threw some books at you." Jiraya said, feigning ignorance.

"This isn't a bunch of books." Naruto said, waving the scroll around for added effect.

"Well then do you get it now. Just because there are a bunch of books inside the scroll, doesn't mean that the scroll is a bunch of books. It is still a scroll." Jiraya explained.

Naruto thought about it for a moment before nodding.

Taking the scroll back from Naruto and tossing it to the hokage, Jiraya continued. "This brings me to the second reason I am here. All the old goats in the council seem to think the seal holding the fox is breaking. The fourth was a fuinjutsu grandmaster if one has ever been seen in the village. I know it is fine but they told me to come look at it anyway."

Jiraya had Naruto pull off his shirt and ran two fingers glowing with chakra across his stomach.

Both he and Hiruzen cringed slightly at how scrawny he looked.

Naruto watched with interest while he worked. He saw the seal show up on his stomach as Jiraya inspected.

After checking it over and taking a few notes Jiraya walked over to the couch and took a seat as he started reading through his notes and comparing them to some information he had with him.

After a few moments Jiraya stood up and walked back to Hiruzen's desk. He stood behind it and laid out his notes before him.

"From what I can tell, Minato preformed the Shiki Fujin to pull the soul of the fox and place it in Naruto. Afterwards, he placed a Hakke no Fuin Shiki over it to completely seal the foxes chakra. The way he built it though, suggests he wants Naruto to slowly become adapted to the chakra over time." Jiraya said.

"What do you mean Jiraya-kun?" Hiruzen asked. He knew both seals, he was not so familiar with the Hakke no Fuin Shiki however.

"Well, it looks like he has the seal set to slowly leak the foxes chakra into Naruto's chakra network. I mean very slowly. When he died, he sent a scroll toad to me with some sort of key formula in it. When I received it I didn't understand what it was. How it was built however, appears to coincide with this second seal and should allow me to tighten or loosen the flow of the foxes chakra at will." Jiraya explained, thinking about it more and more.

"How much chakra is currently being leaked right now Jiraya-kun?" Hiruzen asked with a bit of worry to his tone.

"From what I can feel from the seal, it would be enough to activate a small storage scroll maybe once a day. There is absolutely nothing to worry about there. From my best guess, it will strengthen his coils just a bit with use." Jiraya said with a bit of a smile.

'This kid has it made. His coils are going to be made of steel by the time he hits jonin. If I can manage to regulate how much of the demon's chakra is pulled through the seal as he grows, he may just become immune to in after a few years.' Jiraya thought.

"Well then, how about Naruto-kun's mental well being? Can the fox influence his mind?" Hiruzen asked.

"Not at all. The seal completely locked the foxes soul deep in Naruto's subconscious. Any form of control should be completely impossible for it." Jiraya stated flatly.

"But I heard it yell at me before." Naruto said quietly.

Jiraya stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Has he talked to you since then?" Jiraya asked Naruto.

Naruto shook his head in the negative.

"Well then, I would wager it was with the foxes chakra more freely flowing through you, you were able to hear it from deep in your mind. I do not believe however, that is actually directly contacted you." Jiraya said as he took a few notes.

"Do you think that it would be safe for Inoichi to check inside his mind?" Hiruzen asked. His mood was slowly improving and was hoping that this would be everything cleared for today.

"If your talking about the Yamanaka clan head then I would say it would be safe. I wouldn't recommend anyone else to try it though. I would also like to observe the seal while he does." Jiraya said before taking a seat once again.

"Of course. I was actually planning on that, he should be waiting outside actually. I will call him in." Hiruzen said as he stood up and walked out the door for a moment.

Returning with Inoichi a few seconds later he returned to his seat.

"Hello again Naruto-san, how have you been doing?" Inoichi asked, trying to make a little small talk before he dove into his mind.

"I have been fine Inoichi-sama, thank you for asking." Naruto said with a small bow.

Jiraya quirked his eyebrow and looked to Hiruzen. Hiruzen just shook his head slightly. Jiraya understood it as a 'I'll tell you about it later' kind of motion.

"Well Naruto-san, Hokage-sama asked me here to give you a full checkup inside your mind. My clan specializes in the workings of the mind and hopefully can insure that your are fine after what happened." Inoichi said with a slightly down look on his face.

"I think I understand what you mean. You think the fox is controlling me. What do you need me to do?" Naruto said with a rather dull look on his face.

Inoichi snapped his head toward the hokage. 'Why the hell did he tell Naruto about the fox?' Inoichi asked himself. 'No matter, should make it a lot easier to do this anyways.'

"All I need you to do is relax and close your eyes." Inoichi said as calmly as he could. He didn't want his voice to sound as angry as he was at the moment.

Naruto nodded and closed his eyes. As Inoichi rested his hands on the sides of Naruto's head and began his jutsu, Jiraya proceeded to place a hand on his seal.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Inside of the mindscape Inoichi was at a loss for words. Most peoples mindscapes were just made of hallways of pure white. If the person led a less than honorable life, the hallways were more of a grey color.

All usually had a series of doorways, some being open, some closed and a few locked. Open doors were usually the thoughts that were constantly on a persons mind.

Closed doors were usually memories of the past. Sometimes these were memories that people had forgotten about naturally.

Locked doors however, these were usually intentionally forgotten. Many had been repressed or just bad memories in context.

Usually there were only a few locked doors unless the person was an abuse victim or were just not good people.

The color of the walls usually made it easy to determine what it was at first glance.

Naruto's mindscape however, was unlike anything he had ever seen.

It was many long hallways of many locked doors. Where Inoichi started in was a bright white hallways with only a few open doors. Beyond that the doors started to close abruptly and the walls had gotten darker.

There were a few spots going down that were bright with only 2 doors under the light then it got dark again.

Unlike most mindscapes, this one went to black. Most of the time you could see a long ways down. Naruto's however, turned to complete black. It looked like a hallway with many broken lights. The occasional speck of light all that told him there was more than the first few rooms.

Remembering he had a job to do, he poked his head in the first bright open door he saw. He saw a memory of Naruto and Tenten playing alone in the orphanage.

He looked into the next few rooms and saw they all had Tenten involved. He decided that it was a recurring theme so moved on to the first closed door he saw.

The walls outside the door were a little darker than the previous rooms. He slowly opened the door to see Naruto crying in an alleyway.

He could hear yelling like an angry mob. Inoichi instantly understood the implications. He could not believe that something like this would have never been brought up in a council meeting however.

Disgusted by what he had seen he decided to try another room. Another closed door just across for the one he had just exited.

This was another painful room to look into. It was simply Naruto laying in the hospital. His first hope was hoping for the best. Perhaps it was an accident.

"I don't understand how it is still alive." "Of course the demon wouldn't die from poison." "Why don't we just unplug him?" "The hokage himself brought the demon in. He knows who is on call. None of us would make it out alive."

Naruto was shaking from hearing these voices outside his room. Inoichi was about to leave now and destroy the hospital himself. He knew however, this was only the first few rooms that were still only grey outside of them.

As he poked his head down further down the hallway there were still so many horrible rooms.

Everything from villagers tripping him as he walked down the road. Kids throwing rocks at him. Parents praising their kids for throwing rocks at him. The kids from the orphanage stealing his food. The glares and whispers everywhere he went.

When he finally made it down to the darkest part of his mindscape he could hear a voice. It was nothing but a whisper but it felt like it was right on top of him. He couldn't help but imagine that it had to be the Kyuubi.

He could feel himself being pulled further and further down the hallway, past many black doors with several locks. Part of him knew the fox was doing it but another part of him trusted Jiraya to disrupt his concentration if the fox was influencing Naruto.

He soon found himself seeing a small orange glow at the end of the hallway as if there was a fire. He kept approaching, feeling the slight weight pressed upon him get worse.

He trusted Jiraya inexplicitly so he pressed on.

Upon reaching the room at the end of the hallway, he could see that it was an open room. Inoichi knew this was important but didn't say anything just yet.

"So, you actually entered this room. You are quite a strong willed human Inoichi." The Kyuubi said is a very bored and tired tone.

"I thank you for the compliment, Kyuubi-san" Inoichi said with a deep bow. He knew this was a horrible idea, talking so casually with the nine tailed fox. But he needed to try and understand the Kyuubi if he were to help Naruto.

"Hmmm, Kyuubi-san is it. It seems the Yamanaka family has really fallen in these last years. They were far more refined in the past, maybe less courageous, but still more refined." The Kyuubi spoke in a cold tone.

"My apologies. Do you have a name you wish for me to call you by?" Inoichi said, sweating a bit more now. If he pissed the Kyuubi off, he very well may get crushed being this close to its cage.

The Kyuubi quirked its head a bit. "You are not worthy of knowing my name. Lord Kyuubi would suffice. I would however, caution you of thinking of me as 'It'. I may have been born without a gender, however I identify as a male. Make sure not to forget it."

"My apologies again Lord Kyuubi." Inoichi said again. He was getting even more nervous now. He was sure he had never called the Kyuubi an 'it'. Somehow he had known he had though it.

"Yes, your clan in particular are always surprised when you come across another who can read minds. Never ceases to amaze me when a clan with an ability sees someone else do the same thing. Such ignorance. However, these topics are growing tedious. What did you come here for Yamanaka." The Kyuubi said in a rather annoyed tone.

"I was tasked with discovering if you were properly sealed within Naruto-kun. There have been many, concerns about the stability of the seal and if." Inoichi said before he was cut off.

"Yes, yes. You want to know if the big, bad, Kyuubi no Yoko is messing with poor little Naruto-kun's head. Do not try to waste my time Yamanaka. What is it that you are really here for." Kyuubi said, his tone announcing he was approaching the end of his patience.

"I am here to find out if you hold the power to influence Naruto-kun." Inoichi said with as much confidence as he could. He was sure that the Kyuubi could not influence Naruto's mind. If he could, he never saw any evidence anywhere. He also wanted to know if the Kyuubi was wanting to harm Naruto.

The Kyuubi just stared Inoichi down.

Inoichi just flinched slightly. "I, I also wanted to know if you were trying to intentionally harm Naruto or not." He said quietly.

"You humans are never are able to just speak your minds. To give you my answer, no. If Naruto were to die, I would also be dead. For a while at least." The Kyuubi said.

"While I am stuck in here, Naruto is my jailer. He is a direct representation of myself. If he is weak, then I appear weak. If he is strong, then I appear strong. Why would I try to weaken him at all." The Kyuubi said, as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

Inoichi was blown away. Everyone was concerned for the Kyuubi breaking out or trying to posses Naruto. The Kyuubi seemed far more intelligent that he was led to believe before he came to the mindscape.

"As for possessing Naruto." They Kyuubi said, as is he knew what Inoichi was thinking about. "If I were to posses him, what do you think the odds of him surviving afterwards."

"Zero." Inoichi said, looking at the ground in front of him.

"Exactly. Now then, I grow tired of these ignorant conversations. Try telling the bumbling idiots you call leaders to read a book next time. I would recommend leaving this mindscape now before I forcefully eject you." The Kyuubi said, laying his head down on his front paws.

"Yes, Thank you for your time Lord Kyuubi." Inoichi said with a bow of his head before fading out of the mindscape.

"Stupid humans." The Kyuubi said once more before closing his eyes.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Back inside the Hokage's office Inoichi removed his hands from Naruto's head and stepped back to sit on the couch.

After a moment the hokage spoke.

"Is everything all right Inoichi-sama?" Hiruzen asked.

"Relatively speaking, yes Hokage-sama." Inoichi said, his face a little pale.

After another moment, Inoichi flashed through a few hand signals.

Hiruzen understood. He was signaling something akin to an S-ranked secret. He would have to send Naruto home.

"Naruto how are you feeling?" Hiruzen asked.

"I'm ok. A little tired is all." Naruto said quietly.

"Well, I suppose you should get some rest then." Hiruzen said as he called for Inu to come back in.

With Inu escorting Naruto back to Neko's home they could begin the report.

"Ok Inoichi, spill it. How much control does the Kyuubi have over Naruto?" Hiruzen asked with authority in his voice.

"I honestly could not tell. It appears that he could control Naruto if he wanted to. However, no one appears to have realized that the Kyuubi was far more intelligent than anyone gave him credit for." Inoichi said.

"Elaborate." Hiruzen commanded.

"In the brief time I talked to the Kyuubi, he expressed that he had talked to another Yamanaka before. He appeared to be insulted when I called him Kyuubi-san. He was also able to read my mind." Inoichi said before Hiruzen stopped him for a moment.

"You're telling me that the Kyuubi was able to read your mind?" Hiruzen asked, quite shocked himself.

"Yes. He was also seemed to be rather bored. I might be assuming too much, but he seems to hold no ill-will towards Naruto. He sees him as a representation of himself. Since he is sealed within him, he sees no point in weakening him and thus making himself look weak." Inoichi stated simply.

"Jiraya-kun, did you notice any fluctuations in the seal?" Hiruzen asked.

"No. The seal seemed completely fine. There was the constant trickle that was always there. Nothing out of the ordinary." Jiraya said, rather bored overall. He had trained the fourth hokage in fuinjutsu in the beginning and he was skilled enough to understand just how proficient he was at it.

"The Kyuubi also told me that if Naruto were to die, he would die as well. At least for a little while." Inoichi said.

"Well with that the fox cannot escape the seal. Naruto would die far before he managed to escape. You asked for me to check the seal. With what Inoichi has said and what I know on the subject and plus how good a seal the fourth chose. I would say the seal is perfectly fine. There is absolutely nothing to be worried about. That is my answer, tell the council. I'll be at my apartment." Jiraya said before leaping out the window.

Not bothering to stop Jiraya, Hiruzen just sighed and leaned back in his seat.

"I'll call a council meeting later tonight. Please just write everything you found out down. I'll read it before the meeting." Hiruzen said.

"One last thing Hokage-sama. Naruto appears to have been subjected to several forms of harassment from the civilian populace. There was also several attempts made by hospital staff to kill him whenever he was admitted." Inoichi said before nearly falling over with how much killing intent the hokage blasted out.

"Inoichi, send my apologies to your wife and daughter. You will be stuck with some overtime in the coming days. We have a hospital to clean up." Hiruzen nearly shouted.

Inoichi simply nodded and stood to leave. "I fear the villagers have done far more damage than the Kyuubi had ever done to him Hokage-sama. I pray that Ibiki does not hate me for how much work we will no doubt send his way." He said as he walked toward the door, stopping before he opened it.

"I am unsure, but in a persons mind, when a door is open, it means that person wants it to be open. The door that led to the Kyuubi's cell was left open Hokage-sama. I am unsure what it means, but I think Naruto may have more contact from what we want. Given the memories I saw were not the worst. I would not give it any more thought." He said before leaving the hokage to his thoughts.

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 **Well, it's finally finished.**

 **This was much harder than the first two chapters. I made it a little longer than the others to try and make up for it being so late.**

 **I read a lot of Naruto fan fiction in my spare time. Reading so many different stories I see where my own ideas fall short. It really made some of my confidence and momentum fall short.**

 **Another thing I have come to realize and I went through what I hope to turn my fan fiction into. I am currently reading another fan fiction for the second time now and it occurred to me that my old notes had several ideas based around this other story.**

 **Now nothing in it is copy pasted, however certain interaction would have been rather similar to how I would like to have them play out. I am uncertain if it is in my head just trying to go with the best I have heard, or if it is just a coincidence. As of now everything is 100% me, these similar situation would not be until much later down the line.**

 **In response to this, I will be posting in the end of each chapter a recommendation to another work of fan fiction with a really brief bit about what kind of inspiration it has brought me. I am going to go back and throw recommendations into the first two chapters as well when this chapter gets put up. If this gets a lot of negative feedback I will take them down and probably add one to my bio after each chapter anyway. Just the little way I can give credit to those writers that really gave me a reason to want to make my own story.**

 **This chapter's recommendation is "Naruto One Man Team" By Ackdam. I got hooked deep into this story when I started this chapter. It is a great Romance/Drama story with NarutoxHarem. I usually am very concerned with a story when it says Harem, but this story has done it very well. It has a very dark feel throughout it and a few gritty parts throughout it but it really makes everything work so well. I give it a 10/10 and would recommend it to anyone that is not afraid to read a** **n** **M rated story.**

 **I currently carry a small notebook around me whenever inspiration hits me, and hit me it has. Getting just a few lines in that book for the first time now and I instantly threw down about half the chapter so I could get to where I would need those notes. What a rush.**

 **Lastly, I am going to test out an idea I had. If you have kik and really do enjoy how this story is going, I made a kik group named #TrustByMySide. I am currently the only one there and if you wish to drop by and say hi, I will reply if I am awake. My hope is to build a small group to just chat and discuss the story as it evolves. I will not be handing out spoilers so don't worry if you want everything to be a surprise.**

 **Thanks again for reading and I hope too see the next chapter up in less than 5 days this time.**

*** Edit ***

With Kik updating and one person who ruined the civility of an open to everyone kik group, I will now be talking to people before deciding to invite them or now. My kik is KururugiX, Feel free to message me whenever and I will get back to you when I get the message.

Due to mostly laziness and wanting to fix this at like almost 4am, future chapters will still have info about the group chat, disregard those.


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you for coming to chapter 4 of Trust By My Side. Thank you to everyone that reviews and comes back from the previous chapters to continue reading. Last chapter got a lot more views that I was honestly expecting. I was worried that almost two weeks from chapter two had simply been too long and everyone forgot about it. It seemed that was not the case so I am happy to get right back into it.**

 **I had a guest review asking about Naruto's mindscape. I completely made the mindscape up myself for this story. I didn't really have anything to go on for his entire mind except the Kyuubi's room from cannon so I just made his entire mindscape different.**

 **As I get further into Naruto's life it occurred to me. Right now the story is rated T. While I am not going to be writing explicit lemons or anything of the sort, the language will get worse. In this chapter there is one part that has some swearing. I am just going to bump this up to M rating for safety and update the description as such.**

 **This story will hereby be rated M for Language, Descriptions of violence with blood and gore, very mild suggestive sexual themes, eventual dark themes. Before anything truly gruesome I will put a small warning in the start of the chapter and where it happens in the story. I will section that part off and write a quick summary after it anyone is easily disturbed by these things.**

 **My plans when and after I post a chapter is usually as follows. Post the chapter. Wait about a full day to relax, read reviews, reply to PMs, try to decide how much I want the next chapter to contain. Then the next day or that night, get it started and go from there.**

 **Well I am rambling again so let's just get into the next chapter of Trust By My Side, shall we?**

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 **I do not own Naruto**

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Naruto woke up in an unfamiliar place. It was dark, it was cold, and he could only see a small orange light in the distance. Realizing he had nothing else to he could see to do, he walked toward the orange light.

There was a very strange feeling in his stomach. He couldn't figure out what it was. All he knew, was that is was getting worse the closer he got to the orange light.

Before he knew it, he was lightly sweating and feeling more and more nervous. He kept pressing on despite all of this.

When he finally got to where the orange light was coming from, he realized it was an open door. He slowly poked his head in the door.

What he saw was a large, open room with the walls covered in pipes, the floor covered in just a few inches of water, and a huge, silver gate. He didn't notice any of this at first glance howerever. The only thing he noticed was the colossal, orange, fox with nine tails sweeping lazily around behind him.

Naruto knew he should be very afraid of what he was looking at. However, all he felt was a strange calm sweep over him.

The fox he was staring at cracked open one of his eyes and looked at the boy in front of him.

"What are you doing here boy, I had thought you were finished with this place since it has been so long." The Kyuubi spoke evenly.

"Uhh I have never been here before, uhh, Kyuubi-dono." Naruto said the calm being ripped out of his head putting him in a slight panic before bowing deeply. He was terrified at hearing the fox's voice and was scared he might be offended at anything he did.

"Relax boy, if I could eat you and not be killing myself I would. Since that is not the case, sit and relax for a while. It has been a while and apparently I have to fill you in on some things." The Kyuubi said with a wave of its paw.

Naruto knew he should sit down immediately, or he might anger the fox somehow. He spun around a few times looking for a chair. He couldn't see a chair and wondered where he was supposed to sit. He turned around one last time and right in front of him was a chair.

'How did I not see the chair, it was right there.' Naruto thought before taking a seat.

The Kyuubi however raised an eyebrow. 'So the kid can actually manipulate his mindscape at this age. His thoughts lead me to think he isn't aware of it himself. Maybe a test.'

"Boy, do you know where you are right now. For that matter do you know how you made that chair just now?" The Kyuubi asked with some curiosity in its voice.

"No, I don't know where I am Kyuubi-dono, or how I made the chair. I assumed you did that for me." Naruto said. He was starting to actually understand that the Kyuubi did not bring him here to kill him. Wherever here was.

"We are inside your mind, boy. This is everything that your mind stands for. You were looking for a chair so desperately that one appeared. Why don't you try and get rid of the water in here the same way." The Kyuubi recommended.

Naruto nodded and tried to think of how he made the chair. He had just thought about a chair being in the room. He tried thinking of a dry floor instead.

After a few moments, the water started to disappear. Naruto opened his eyes when he felt his feet start to dry. He grinned ear to ear and felt proud of his accomplishment.

The Kyuubi just smirked at him. "Well done boy. It seems your mind is not as feeble as it appeared." The Kyuubi said with a chuckle.

Naruto was in shock. Did the Kyuubi no Yoko just compliment him?

"Yes, yes. Your mind is not as feeble as it appears. However. it is still feeble. Since you apparently do not remember me at all, it leads me to believe you have managed to lock up much of your mind much better than I thought possible." The Kyuubi said as if it was nothing.

"Excuse me, Kyuubi-dono, what do you mean that I locked up my mind?" Naruto asked, fear slowly settling down.

"You have been here several times before. How you managed to forget is beyond. I was probably asleep when you did it. When I awoke, I saw your mind was much different than before and much of your mind was locked off." The Kyuubi said before pausing for a moment.

"If you do not remember any of it at all, that makes me think that someone tampered with your memories. It was either that Yamanaka that was here a few hours ago, or he is incompetent and did not notice it at all." The Kyuubi said, sounding slightly bored.

"I don't understand at all." Naruto said. This was way over what someone that was almost 6 years old should know.

"It would take days for me to just tell you everything you missed of the last year or so. I am not about to waste that much time. Just go open one of the doors outside of here. You should be able to open them easy enough. Come back whenever you remember everything. At least you understand the basics of respect." The Kyuubi said before closing his eyes again.

Naruto frowned slightly. How did he forget anything. He didn't remember forgetting anything.

He got up and walked outside the Kyuubi's room. He saw several closed doors in the darkness. He decided to just go inside and figure out what was in them.

When his hand wrapped around the door handle however, he was instantly shocked and throw into the wall across the hallway. When he hit, everything went black for a moment.

'I guess someone had failsafes in place so he couldn't regain his memories. Not my problem however. Should be fun if he ever gets them back again. Being locked up without anyone to talk to at all got boring after so long.' The Kyuubi thought before closing his eyes again.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

When he came back around he realized he wasn't in his mind anymore. He was back in Neko's guest room.

He went to get up before he remembered that Neko told him to wait for her to tell him he could get up. Then he remembered he wasn't hurt so he should be fine to get up.

He headed out toward the living room. When he got there he heard Neko call out from the kitchen.

"Well good morning sleepyhead. Did you get enough rest?" Neko asked.

"Yes, thank you again for letting me sleep here Onee-chan." Naruto said "Where are the others?"

"Everyone is still out at the park, I was just about to bring them out a few sandwiches. Would you like one?" Neko asked.

"Sure, you make the best sandwiches after all." Naruto said with a grin.

Neko just chuckled quietly and made an extra. "Here, go ahead and take these out to everyone. I'll be down soon."

Naruto nodded, took the plate from, her and headed out back to the park.

What he saw was Tenten still throwing kunai at the target. Itachi coaching her a little. Inu reading a little orange book.

He smiled at everyone when they saw him approaching. "Lunch is here." He said setting the plate down on a nearby picnic table.

Tenten gathered up the kunai around the target and handed them to Inu. Inu just placed them in his holster and sat down at the table.

"So Naruto-kun how are you feeling?" Tenten asked first.

"I feel ok, still tired honestly." Naruto said before taking a bite of the sandwich he grabbed.

They chatted idly for a while before Naruto and Tenten got up to go practice someone.

Inu spoke up. "Are you two determined to become shinobi?"

"Of course." Naruto said without hesitating.

"Yes." Tenten said just after.

"That's good. It is always nice to work with shinobi with such strong conviction." Inu said with an eye smile.

"I am going to go see what is taking Neko so long. She said she was going to come down here soon." Inu said before heading upstairs.

Naruto and Tenten just shrugged and continued practicing.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Inside the apartment, Inu was talking to Neko.

"Well they are certainly convicted to becoming shinobi. I have no doubt they will both go far in their careers." Inu said,

"Well that much was a given. I doubt you would have came up here to talk to me privately if that is all there is. What else are you thinking." Neko said

"Well, we are still trying to figure out where they should live correct?" Inu asked.

Neko just nodded before Inu continued. "Well this apartment is owned by the hokage for use by shinobi exclusively right?"

Again Neko just nodded, still not quite getting where he was going.

"Well, there is an empty apartment just above you right. If we have them swear into the program, they could be given the apartments in the same building as you. They get to live normally and you are next door. There is also no where safer than this particular shinobi apartment block is there?" Inu asked almost sarcastically.

Neko thought about it. 'Well this is a quadplex, my neighbor is a chunin that is on extended medical leave. There the other apartment above me is used by an anbu that is usually on long term missions. There is definitely a spot open.'

'That is only in this building however. I believe several T&I shinobi took up a building for themselves a few buildings over. I doubt any civilians would come out here to harass Naruto if he was here.' She thought.

"I will talk to the hokage about it. I can't think of any major flaws with it. I think he would agree. I will go ask him now honestly. I don't think we should keep them both here for much longer." Neko said before grabbing the door handle and heading toward the tower.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Come in." Hiruzen said, sounding quite tired at this point.

"Hokage-sama, I am here to report on Naruto Uzumaki." Neko said with a bow.

"Of course you are." Hiruzen said, sound rather annoyed.

"While trying to come up with a place to stay for Naruto Uzumaki and Tenten, Inu and myself agreed that he could live in the apartment above myself. Currently it is unoccupied, and should they both swear into the shinobi for a future time, I believe they could be allowed to stay there." Neko said evenly.

Hiruzen leaned back and took out his pipe. He stared at it for a moment before looking back to Neko.

"While I personally believe that swearing loyalty early could cause for problems in the future. It is a sound idea. I will push it forward through the council meeting tonight and see to it." The Hokage said as he light his pipe.

"There will be no going back from this. Should they sign, they will be forced into the academy when they come of age. Take the time tonight, to sit them both down and talk this out. I will call for you tomorrow afternoon. If they are ready. They will sign. Is that acceptable?" He asked.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Neko said bowing again.

"Dismissed." Hiruzen said with a wave of his hand.

'Elections for a new civilian council member will not be held for another week. I should see what else I can milk this for before the numbers become even again.' He chuckled before resuming his paperwork.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Neko was only gone for around twenty minutes. In those twenty minutes, Inu was giving the kids a bit of a history lesson.

He was explain what the will of fire was and how the village remained strong through everything because of it.

He had tried to keep a constant gauge on how enthusiastic they were about protecting the village.

Naruto, of course, was stoked to be a part of it.

Tenten was still excited, just wasn't practically jumping around.

When Neko arrived to see Naruto exclaiming that he was going to be a ninja too, she realized that she had nothing to worry about.

She briefly explained to Naruto and Tenten that they were going to have to find a place to stay soon. She told them of the shinobi lodgings reserved for leaf shinobi.

They both understood how important is was for them to swear their loyalty to the village if they wanted the apartment. Naruto was headlong into the idea. Tenten however had one question.

"You said apartment. Are we going to be sharing an apartment?" She asked.

Neko wanted to slap herself in the face. She did not once consider getting them two, separate apartments. She only asked for one.

"Tenten-chan does it matter?" Naruto asked innocently.

"Well, well no I guess it's just, it's just." Tenten actually couldn't finish.

She realized that if they were in the same apartment it might be a little weird at first. However, she would be completely alone if she had an apartment to herself.

She did not want that at all.

"No, I guess it doesn't" Tenten said with a smile.

Inu was glad that didn't blow up in Neko's face.

Itachi was indifferent again.

Neko was a little skeptical but had to remind herself they were only five and six years old. There shouldn't be a problem.

Neko spoke up after they had settled down. "So you both will swear your loyalty to the village then right?"

They both nodded quickly.

"Then Inu, could I get you to send a scroll to the hokage. We might as well get the key to the apartment and get it cleaned out now." Neko said

Inu nodded and just bit his finger and went through a few hand signs before slamming his hand on the ground.

In a puff of smoke, a small pug appeared with a Konoha forehead protector and a vest with a heno-heno-moheji seal on the back. (Scarecrow I.E. Kakashi)

"Pakkun can you run a scroll to the Hokage and retrieve a key from him?" Inu asked.

"I guess. Where is it?" Pakkun asked lazily.

"Right here Pakkun-san." Neko said as she leaned down to hand him the scroll she had just finished.

Pakkun growled at her and snapped the scroll out of her hands making her flinch.

"Haha, classic. I'll be back." Pakkun said, laughing as he headed toward the hokage office.

"What the hell was that Inu." Neko said in a threatening tone.

"Ehhh, Pakkun likes to mess with, cats, from time to time, sorry about that, Neko." Inu said, just slightly sarcastically.

Getting her anger under control Neko just sighed. She muttered something about stupid mutts before heading back toward her house.

"Well kids, with that, you will officially be on the path of becoming shinobi of the hidden leaf. You will begin your official training in the academy after your 8th birthday. There is a full year between the start of new school years, so you will both be enrolling in the same time. Any questions?" Inu asked.

"How did you summon a dog?" Naruto asked, having completely missed everything Inu had just said.

"Pakkun is not just a dog, he is a ninken, one of the ninja hounds I summon." Inu said lazily.

"That's so cool. Itachi-san, can you summon ninken too?" Naruto asked, he still doesn't know how summoning works after all.

"My clan, the Uchiha, have a contract with the crows. It is usually handed down to members of the clan head's direct family. The clan head is my father, so I also am held as a summoner." Itachi said.

"That's so cool." Naruto said, getting excited again.

"It is cool, however, not many get the privilege to sign a contract. Most are held within specific clans after all." Inu said.

Naruto started to look a bit downcast before realizing he wouldn't need a summon contract to be a strong ninja. Many became strong without ever having a contract after all.

"Then I will just have to train harder myself." Naruto said with a big grin on his face.

"That's the spirit Naruto-kun." Inu said with an eye smile.

With that, Naruto went back to the target range they had set up. Once more, with vigor, he got to training.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

A worn out Naruto stumbled his way back into Neko's apartment. They had spent a few hours training until they decided to go ahead and clean out the apartment. Pakkun had returned with the key and a mission scroll.

It was a D-rank for Itachi to clean the apartment. They knew it was just an excuse to keep Itachi around for a few hours but didn't say anything.

It was just a simple one bedroom apartment. It had a small bath/shower, simple kitchen, and a living room with a recliner and a three seat sofa with a table along with a small office.

It was perfect for a single ninja. For two however, it was rather small.

It seemed the only thing that the apartment was without was a second bed. They decided to go and pick up an extra futon on the way back from swearing in tomorrow afternoon.

After everything was cleaned, it was a nice apartment. It was build for shinobi so it was not large by any stretch of the imagination. It was not meant for long-term living. It was for a shinobi that was always on the move.

Naruto and Tenten could not be happier though.

Naruto was happy to finally be out of the orphanage and have somewhere to call home.

Tenten was just happy to not be separated from Naruto.

They had both accepted that they were now forced to become shinobi for their village.

Naruto was more than happy to do so. He would use his training to protect everyone that was precious to him. Admittedly that list was rather short for now, but he would make friends some day.

Tenten just remembered Naruto being attacked and being powerless to help him. She would get strong to not get left behind.

Inu, Neko and Itachi were all pleased with their reasons to become shinobi. It was a rather odd sentiment to have for Itachi, being completely against what most other Uchiha believed in.

Everyone went their separate ways for the evening. Tomorrow was the day they would swear to follow the program. Everyone needed their rest.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

It was time for the council meeting the hokage was dreading. He would have to convince the council to allow Naruto to be accepted into the program and swear in early.

It wasn't exactly unheard of, however, rarely used. They would accuse him of favoritism.

They would question his leadership abilities. They would question if he was going to do the same for every orphan with a sob story.

He could not tell him of his father. He would no doubt have to remind them of his status as Uzumaki heir.

He was also stressed of having to deal with his inheritance. He was legally in charge of his entire estate. They would have to keep a firm grip of the estate entrusted to him.

They would ask why he didn't have possession of his inheritance now.

He had held on to it until he was a shinobi as per Kushina's will.

If they asked him where the will was, he would have to dodge the question. There are mentions of Minato's assets as well.

Civilians were never fun to deal with.

"Hokage-sama, everyone has gathered and are awaiting you in the council room." A bear masked anbu said, kneeling in front of Hiruzen.

"Yes yes, I will be there." Hiruzen said with a wave of his hand.

The anbu disappeared as Hiruzen headed toward the council chamber.

As soon as he opened the door he was bombarded with questions as to why they were there.

Hiruzen sighed inwardly. This meeting was going to be the death of him.

"Quiet down. The purpose of this meeting tonight is to share the results of Inoichi-sama's and Jiraya-sama's investigation of Naruto Uzumaki's seal of the Kyuubi no Yoko."

The civilian side of the council was immediately light up with calls for death to the demon.

Hiruzen sighed before blasting them with killing intent.

"I will give this council one last warning. This is completely a shinobi matter. The entire reason you are here is to help ease the mind of the civilians of the village. Any civilian council member who refers to Naruto as anything other than Uzumaki-sama, as his heritage dictates, will be killed on the spot. AM I CLEAR!" Hiruzen shouted.

Several violent nods of acceptance from the civilian side, showing just how scared they were of the Kami of shinobi.

"All right then. Now, the reports from Inoichi-sama and Jiraya-sama have lead me to a conclusion. The Kyuubi no Yoko is completely contained inside of Naruto Uzumaki and has no way of escaping the seal." Hiruzen said calmly.

"I would like to take this time to ask everyone on the shinobi council if they find this new surprising at all." Hiruzen said in a rather bored tone.

A unanimous nod of negative from the shinobi side proved his point.

"Well that about sums that up. Now then. Naruto will be given residence within shinobi housing effective tomorrow. He will be swearing to join the shinobi ranks when he comes of age and graduates the academy. Any objections?" Hiruzen asked.

A short woman from the cloth merchant guild voiced her opinion.

"Why are you showing such blatant act of favoritism. There are many homeless orphans at this time. Will you be showing these kids the same thing?" She asked.

"It is completely up to my discretion. Naruto is the sole heir to the Uzumaki clan. As such he cannot be adopted into a shinobi clan and I do not trust any of the civilian sector with his wellbeing. The Yamanaka, Nara and Akimichi clans have all voiced the will of several of their members to adopt. The rest of the orphans will be well taken care of." Hiruzen said smoothly.

A rather large man representing the livestock portion of the market district stood up.

"Hokage-sama, how long is the seal expected to last. What if the boy were to die young" He asked.

"FUCK THESE IDIOTS." Was the yell from the corner of the room.

After yelling, Jiraya dropped his stealth jutsu and marched over to offending councilman.

"Are you one of the greatest seal masters in the village?" Jiraya asked, shoving the man back into his chair.

He could not speak so he just shook his head.

"Do you have any fucking idea what would happen if some stupid fucking moron were to kill Naruto?" Jiraya continued to yell down at the council man.

He kept shaking his head, fearing for his life.

"To set the damn record straight. If Naruto dies, the Kyuubi dies." Jiraya yelled.

"Then kill the demon." The council man of the agriculture portion of the market yelled, interrupting Jiraya and standing up.

He did not get all of the way out of his chair before he found his head separated from his body.

"ANY ONE ELSE ABOUT TO DISOBEY MY ORDERS?" Hiruzen shouted slamming the civilian council members with more killing intent.

A few managed to shake their heads, most fainted or soiled their pants.

"Now then, if you idiots want to hear the rest of my explanation. If Naruto dies, the Kyuubi dies, temporarily. It would take a few years for the Kyuubi to resurface. No doubt pissed off that we tried to kill it. What do you think would happen to the village then?" Jiraya asked before walking toward the door.

"If left alone, the seal will keep the beast sealed until the end of Naruto's life. Afterwards, I would not want to be in the village when it comes back." Jiraya finished before walking out the door.

The council got ghostly quiet after he left.

"I trust everyone understands now." Hiruzen said calmly.

A few nods were good enough for him.

"Now then shall we get this over with and call a few votes. I will be increasing the punishment for attempted assault on Naruto Uzumaki from standard sentencing to torture and then death. Any objections?" Hiruzen said evenly.

A few civilians that were still awake were snapped out of their shock and threw their hands up.

Hiruzen ignored them completely. "The motion passes." He said.

"I will be hereby giving shinobi permission to apprehend any and all people that are whispering traitorous messages about Naruto Uzumaki. Depending on the offence, jail time or having their tongue cut out will be the punishment. Your thoughts Fugaku, as head of the police force this will be under your jurisdiction." Hiruzen asked.

"It will certainly give my men less of a headache with all of the fact less complains we receive about Naruto. I will accept the responsibility if it is passes and vote for it myself." Fugaku said sternly.

"Very well, all against." Hiruzen said.

Again the civilians were all opposed but with a sever lack of awake numbers the vote was pointless.

"Motion carried. Let's see. We now need some one in charge of agriculture of the market. I would call for imports to be carried out by the Nara clan, local growing to be cared for by the Yamanaka clan and local distribution to be handled by the Akimichi clan. Do you three accept these responsibilities?" Hiruzen asked looking toward the clan heads.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." They replied in unison.

"All opposed?" Hiruzen asked, almost sarcastically.

The civilians tried to fight it but the shinobi accepted and there was nothing they could do.

"Final piece of business. I am hereby calling a vote to strip the civilian council the ability to vote at all during these meetings. Your constant ignorance and inability to listen to the shinobi side has lead be to this decision. You may still propose new things for us to vote on, but will no longer have a vote. All against the motion." Hiruzen said calmly.

The civilian side was in an uproar. There were screams of dictatorship, betrayal and many curses at the hokage.

"Yes this is a dictatorship. I decided to form this council myself. I gave you all every chance to help lead this village and you spat in my face. Now then, all in favor." Hiruzen said looking to the shinobi side.

Every single shinobi in attendance raised their hand.

"Very well, the motion passes. The new schedule of meetings will me once a month instead of twice. If anyone has a reason to call a new meeting see me in my office. With that, this meeting is over." Hiruzen said before standing up and walking toward the door, ignoring the raging civilians.

"Inoichi-sama, please walk with me." He said before walking out the door.

"What do you need Hokage-sama?" Inoichi asked when he caught up to Hiruzen.

"I was going to check up on how the hospital staff have been fairing in T&I. I thought it best for you to come along." He said.

"Of course. I am happy to say that it has been going quite well. We have made good progress working through the hospital as a whole. So far, only four have been deemed unfit to be retrained and are awaiting your sentencing." Inoichi said grimly.

"Very well, let's not keep Ibiki-san waiting." Hiruzen said.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Of the four that were deemed unfit to be retrained, all were sentenced to death. They were completely lost to despair in regards to the Kyuubi and were deemed a hazard to village in its entirety.

There were several more that were just acting on orders from the higher ups to neglect treatment of Naruto.

Those were given the fear of Kami to get them back in line.

They had yet to solve the mystery of who this higher up was that was convincing these nurses to harm Naruto.

However, it was discovered that it was not just Naruto that was being neglected in the hospital. Several shinobi that officially died on the operating table, died due to foul play.

Several times where medical instruments were not cleaned properly and lead to life threatening infections.

Other times, blood got contaminated and inevitably killed whoever it was given too.

They could tell someone was screwing with the hospital but had yet to track them down.

Hiruzen pushed those thoughts aside for now. Inoichi, Ibiki and Anko were working around the clock to sort through the hospital. He however, was giving Naruto and Tenten their new shinobi laws to follow.

"And do you swear to uphold the Will of Fire and all that it stands for with your life?" He droned on.

"Yes Hokage-sama." Naruto and Tenten replied.

"Will you also value the lives of your fellow shinobi as you would value your own lives?" Hiruzen continued.

"Yes Hokage-sama." They replied.

"Finally, will you accept the orders of your Hokage, your commanding officer or ranking shinobi in absence of the previous, without pause or question?"

"Yes Hokage-sama."

"Then it is my privilege to accept you as future shinobi under my command. When you come of age, you will be sent to the academy. You will be trained to serve your village and fellow shinobi with everything you are made of." Hiruzen said.

"You are hereby given the property given only to those of the shinobi ranks. You will be viewed as future shinobi and not just as civilians. Therefore, shinobi law now applies to you." Hiruzen said before taking a moment to think.

"I will have Itachi Uchiha give you a rundown tomorrow morning on what that means. You will both receive a small allowance for food and other necessities until you graduate the academy. Aside from that, thank you for swearing into the program. I look forward to seeing you become full shinobi. Dismissed." Hiruzen said with a smile on his face.

Both kids smiled and bowed before taking their leave.

Inu and Neko were waiting for them outside the tower. "So, is everything set then?" Neko asked.

"Yes, we are swore in." Tenten said.

"Great, no sense waiting around. Let's go grab you an extra futon and run by Goodwill and see if we can get you two a few changes of clothes." Inu said before he started to walk off.

"I'll go grab you guys something to fill your cabinets." Neko said.

"Thank you for the help Neko-san, we will be sure to pay you back some day." Tenten said with a small bow.

"Don't mention it at all Tenten. Just help me keep the garden while I am away on missions and we will call it even. The boys in the building have no idea how to care for a garden I swear." She said getting Tenten to laugh.

They made their way to Goodwill while Neko shopped for some food. If Inu didn't think for one second that they still might refuse to help Naruto out he wouldn't have come with them.

The Goodwill was set up by the Hiruzen after the Kyuubi attack. Everything they managed to salvage from destroyed homes and what was donated from families that lost children and loved ones in the shinobi service donated what they could.

This ranged anywhere from clothes to some ninja gear from time to time. This was mostly stored in the village armory unless it was in need of repairs.

Anyone over the rank of Genin was turned away as they should be able to afford their own gear. Most Genin did not even come in because they had clans and families to support their early career.

As they looked around they only found clothes that were slightly better than rags.

Tenten managed to find a small red, chinese style dress that was her size along with a few extra t-shirts that were her size and a few pairs of black pants.

Naruto found himself a pair of shinobi style sandals that fit along with a few pairs of simple blue pants and a white shirt with an orange Uzumaki crest on the back.

He did not know it was the Uzumaki crest but he liked it.

He also grabbed an extra plain black shirt as well.

They made their way over to where there were some shinobi gear.

They both found a few damaged kunai and shuriken. Inu imagined they were ones found in a deceased shinobi's home that they never got around to repairing.

Naruto and Tenten found torn kunai holsters and asked Inu if they could be fixed.

The leg straps on them were torn as if they were just torn off of an enemy shinobi. They were brown so he guessed Iwa.

"Sure, I could teach you both how to sew. Try and find something made of a sturdy fabric to finish the straps on them." Inu said.

They both nodded and got to hunting.

They ended up with three sets of clothes each. A kunai holster each along with what appeared to be an old cloth satchel that was riddled with holes. They planned to use it to repair the kunai holsters.

It brought new meaning to hand-me-down but they were happy.

They had a handful of kunai and shuriken for each of them. They brought all of their spoils to the front desk.

The lady working at the front desk looked at the two kids before mumbling the prices on each of the sets of clothes.

She totaled up two hundred for all of Tenten's clothes and started to count off Naruto's clothes.

The kids could not hear her but Inu could perfectly clear.

She was intentionally over pricing everything Naruto had brought up.

Inu calmly walked up to the counter and picked up one of the damaged kunai before glaring holes through the lady working the desk.

She quickly understood the threat and gave him the proper total.

Inu paid the woman and left but not before leaving a note for her.

The note simply said, 'The Hokage will hear of your mistreatment of Naruto.'

As they made their way back toward the apartment Naruto spoke up. "I'm sorry you had to pay for us Inu-san."

"Don't worry about it Naruto-kun. The Hokage asked me to get you guys some clothes. I'm sure he will pay me back." Inu said with a wave of his hand.

"I guess I will go thank Jiji tomorrow then." Naruto said.

"Let's hurry and get you two settled in. I can teach you how to sew and repair kunai if we hurry." Inu said before walking a little faster.

Honestly he could tell Tenten was starting to notice the glares people were sending Naruto's way. He would prefer to not have that conversation.

With luck, he could pawn it off on Neko.

Until then, they would get the kids settled in and help them along with living on their own.

With them owning an apartment in one of the safest places in the village, Inu and Neko could start taking more missions now.

In a case where they were both needed, Itachi could now fill in.

They would also start giving more training to the kids in the near future. You could never start training too early after all.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

 **That's the chapter. I hope you liked it. I'm going to clear up a few things really quick.**

 **Last chapter I forgot to elaborate on the currency. I'm going to be using ryo, the basis of it will be around 100 ryo = 1 us dollar. There is 1 ryo is a copper coin with a square cutout in the center, think ancient chinese copper coins. 10 ryo will be pretty much same expect slightly larger and silver. 100/1,000/10,000 will all be in note form.**

 **Genin will be lower class. They can only take D rank missions and they just do not pay the bills well. In terms of how much work for rewards it takes to be considered wealthy in the shinobi world, 4 weeks of constant D-ranks and you can be self sustained. 3 weeks of C-ranks and you are comfortable. 2 weeks of B-ranks and you can have free time. A 1 week A-rank mission and you can afford to hit up the bars several times throughout the rest of the month.**

 **Jonin however have much less leeway with what missions they take. Just because they can be comfortable after a 1 week A-rank, doesn't mean they only get to take one. They can be forced to take a 3 month A-rank and be that much richer, however it costs a ton of free time.**

 **With this format an average D-rank mission is around 6000 ryo or $60 divided up between the teams with a 10% going directly to the hokage. C-rank will vary greatly depending on the type of work done.**

 **I am going to try and make money actually mater as I have never really seen it happen in a fan fiction before.**

 **On to other topics. I realize that the civilian council is all but disbanded now and that is how I think it should be. The council walking all of the Hokage was always stupid to me. Now that he is fighting for Naruto, he grew a backbone.**

 **Giving control of the main agriculture from civilian control to the Ino-Shika-Cho trio is not going to change much. They will have the 'Grew by Yamanaka clan, and Akimichi seal of approval' is about it. Nara clan will be taking care of imports because as lazy intellectuals I thought it appropriate. This also serves to give the clans more depth. Not every member of the clan is a shinobi so this gives civilian members something to do.**

 **The civilians will still bug the hokage from time to time but it should run a lot smoother now.**

 **If I missed anything send me a PM or say something in a review. I appreciate it.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Welcome back everyone to chapter 5 of Trust By My Side.**

 **I would like to explain a bit more on why the story is now rated M. The main worry was of the language. With life and death situations I feel that words like darn, shoot, crap just do not convey enough emotion.**

 **Another reason was the story will eventually have a bit of a darker tone down the line. I am not going to spoil it but I will say it is not going to be very PG.**

 **Last is going to be the violence. While this story is tagged as Friendship then Adventure, I could only use two tags. Hurt/Comfort or even Angst could have been used but they only apply to maybe 5% of the story. Romance could have also fit, but I strive for more along the lines of family bonds not romantic bonds.**

 **Last, I completely forgot to give a recommendation for another story last chapter so I am going to put one here and another at the end of the chapter.**

 **Neo Yondaime Hokage by Psycho G. I passed over this story so many times because after reading the description I thought it would be silly. I was way off. Every negative thing I had thought before reading it was thrown out the window and I have it currently sitting in my pile of fictions to read a second time. Highly recommend.**

 **Also to the guest reviewer that loved how Hiruzen owned the civilian council and needed to read the next chapter. Here it is for you.**

 **With that shall we get into chapter 5 of Trust By My Side.**

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

 **I do not own Naruto**

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

"We're home!" Naruto yelled as he entered the apartment for the first time as actual owners.

"Naruto, don't forget this is an apartment, try not to yell so much." Inu reminded him before stepping in himself.

"Ah, sorry Inu-san, I completely forgot. I got excited finally having a place that I can call home." Naruto said as he started to rub the back of his neck.

"It is kind of surreal isn't it Naruto-kun." Tenten said as he started to head toward the bedroom.

"Yeah, it is rather hard to believe even though I am standing right here." Naruto said, looking around some more.

"I am just glad we cleaned up a bit yesterday." Tenten said with a small laugh.

"Me too." Naruto said. "Oh hey look, Neko already dropped off the futon." He said as he got into the bedroom with Tenten to drop off his clothes.

"Yes, do you want to set them both out in this room or set one out in the living room?" Tenten asked quietly.

"Well we can just leave them both in here right?" Naruto said before adding weakly. "I am not sure if I would be able to sleep alone in a room after sharing a room with so many people in the orphanage."

"Me either." Tenten said before turning to the dresser.

It only had four drawers and there was only a small closet as well.

"Naruto-kun, how should we divide everything? You can have the top two drawers and I will take the bottom and we can just split the closet. Does that work?" Tenten asked.

"Sure, we can get another dresser too if you want." Naruto said quickly.

"No, it's fine." Tenten said before opening her drawer and putting her clothes in it.

Naruto put his in a drawer when she was done and walked back out into the living room to see Inu sitting there with a cup in his hand.

"What are you drinking Inu-san? I didn't know we had anything in the kitchen yet." Naruto said.

"Ah I made a small pot of coffee. Neko got you guys some basic food and you had a few dishes in the cupboards." Inu said.

"We have dishes already?" Naruto asked.

"Well yes, me and Neko cleaned them all while you were cleaning out the bathroom." Tenten said.

"Ah, right." Naruto said sheepishly. The apartment had just about everything they needed so it shouldn't have surprised him.

"That's right I had almost forgotten. I rounded up what stuff of your's that I could find in the orphanage." Inu said before he pulled out a small scroll.

He unraveled it and applied chakra to the seal in the middle and a few things appeared.

A pair of toothbrushes. An extra change of clothes for each of them. Along with a few more simple things.

"Thank you Inu-san. I honestly completely forgot about all of this." Tenten said.

"No problem, I should get to heading out however. Don't forget to train now. Also do try to be considerate of your neighbors Naruto-kun." Inu said before closing the door behind himself.

"I'm not that loud am I?" Naruto asked with a defeated look on his face.

"Sometimes." Tenten replied with a shrug.

Tenten decided to check through some of the food Neko got them. It was mostly simple things.

There were some instant dinners along with bread, eggs, meat, rice, along with some veggies and a small fruit basket as well.

'I guess I am going to get stuck with cooking most of the time. Kami knows I cannot live off of ramen for the rest of my life after all.' Tenten thought.

A little while of checking out the house and Tenten got everything settled. She decided she should go get a book on how to cook.

"Hey Naruto-kun, do you want to go to the library with me? I need to try and find a cookbook." Tenten asked.

"Uhh, I guess. Can we stop and thank Jiji for letting us live here, it's on the way after all." Naruto asked back.

Tenten nodded and headed out the door.

They walked down the main road and once again Tenten saw the glares the people were still putting at Naruto. She decided to talk about it later.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

As they entered the tower they checked in at the receptionist. She buzzed the hokage and told him Naruto was here to see him again. She had him wait in the waiting room for him.

They barely had a chance to sit down before the receptionist waved them to the office.

"Ah, Naruto-kun it's good to see you as always. How do you like your apartment." Hiruzen asked.

"I love it Jiji. I realized I never got a chance to thank you for helping us in that regard." Naruto said with a bow. Tenten following shortly behind.

"It was nothing Naruto-kun. What about you Tenten-chan, do you like the apartment?" Hiruzen asked again.

"Yes Hokage-sama, I am very grateful to you helping us get it. I look forward to joining the shinobi ranks and paying you back someday." Tenten said politely.

"That is very good to hear indeed." Hiruzen said with a smile.

"Well Jiji, we shouldn't take up too much of your time, I just really wanted to thank you since I didn't get the chance to this morning." Naruto said.

"Oh, ok. Well have a nice day then Naruto-kun, you as well Tenten-chan." Hiruzen said

As they headed toward the door Naruto paused for a moment. "Uh, Jiji, do you know where the library is."

Tenten almost slapped her forehead, she didn't know either.

"Looking to get a bit of reading done Naruto-kun?" Hiruzen said with a chuckle.

"Actually, I was hoping to find a cookbook or two, Hokage-sama." Tenten said sheepishly.

"Ah, well maybe I can set you up with an escort." Hiruzen said before turning to the small intercom in his desk.

"Has Shiho-chan left yet?" Hiruzen said and after a brief pause he said. "Ah great, I am sending Naruto and Tenten down, have her show them the way to the library for me."

"Well Shiho-chan can walk you guys over there. Don't keep her waiting too long however. I will talk to you later." Hiruzen said with a small wave.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

"Hello, my name is Naruto Uzumaki, are you Shiho?" Naruto asked a girl talking to the receptionist.

"Yes, are you the kids I was supposed to take to the library with me?" Shiho asked shyly.

"Kids? You are barely older than us." Naruto said huffing.

"Still kids however. Come on. I gotta get back to the library." Shiho said heading toward the door of the tower.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

It was a short trip but they all got to talking.

Shiho only two years older than both of them. Apparently on the first day of the academy they took an IQ test.

Shiho scored exceptionally high and was offered an apprenticeship under Mitoku, the leader of the village's cryptanalysis team.

She was new to the task so she mostly just ran scrolls to the hokage on occasion.

She also spent a lot of her time in the library. Mitoku was also in charge of the library, so he started her apprenticeship there.

Shiho was given the rank of Genin upon being accepted by Mitoku. As no shinobi could officially apprentice a civilian.

Tenten and Shiho became fast friends and even agreed to hang out in the library from time to time.

When they finally arrived they had to go their separate ways. Shiho had some documents to deliver to Mitoku and Tenten still had to find a cookbook.

They grabbed a simple cookbook and headed home.

Naruto plopped down on the couch and stretched out a bit.

"It felt pretty good getting that much of a walk done. We should do it more often." Naruto said

"Sure, how about we go for another walk tomorrow morning?" Tenten suggested.

"Sounds good to me." Naruto said with a smile.

Tenten smiled too and decided she should try to make something for dinner.

They mostly had rice and some veggies with a few spices.

She decided to go all out on their first meal and thought she should invite Neko over as well.

Tenten had watched the cook at the orphanage before so she had the general idea on how everything worked. After that it was just following directions.

After she got most of it started she softly yelled at Naruto. "Naruto-kun, can you go down to Neko-san's apartment and ask if she would like to have dinner with us?"

"Sure, I'll be right back." Naruto replied, heading toward the door.

Naruto came back a moment later with Neko in tow.

"Smells really good, what are you cooking Tenten-san?" Neko asked.

"Hayashi rice Neko-san. It looked really tasty in the cookbook and seemed simple." Tenten replied.

Neko nodded and agreed it smelled pretty tasty. She helped Naruto set the table so it would be ready with the food.

Neko also decided to show Naruto how to brew tea.

It was a nice dinner. Neko complimented Tenten on her cooking skills more than once. She was a bit more surprised that she was actually invited.

Both Naruto and Tenten said it was a thank you for all the help they had given them in the last week.

Tenten made way to much for just the three of them and ended up with quite a lot of leftovers for the next day.

After they got everything cleaned up they decided to get the bedroom sorted and get to bed early.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Tenten woke up first and decided to take a shower before Naruto woke up.

Tenten was deep in thought inside the shower before she heard the door open. She poked her head out of the curtain to see Naruto standing there frozen.

"Naruto-kun," Tenten said in a terrifyingly soft voice. "GET OUT!" She yelled at him.

Naruto fell over backwards and ran right into the wall before scrambling into the other room.

Tenten laughed at him and realized Naruto is a zombie in the mornings. This probably wouldn't be the only time this was going to happen. At least she was still behind the curtain this time.

Naruto was seeing stars as he laid on the floor of the living room. He could kind of understand that Tenten was in the shower and he just walked in on her.

The other part of him was wondering why his vision was kind of blurry. He didn't remember running into the wall after all.

He felt rather stupid after a moment. He was used to boys having a different bathroom than the girls so walking in on someone showering wasn't a big deal.

Living with a girl was harder than he thought it was going to be.

A few seconds later there was a knock on the door. Naruto got up to reveal Neko staring at him.

"What happened Naruto, what did I say about you guys yelling." Neko said strictly.

"Ah sorry Onee-chan. I kind of went into the bathroom while Tenten was still in the shower." Naruto said sheepishly.

"Of course that's what it was. Try not to do that again Naruto-kun. Next time, knock first if the door is closed." Neko said with a sigh.

"Yeah, ok." Naruto said, still out of it.

Neko nodded and walked back to her apartment.

Naruto decided to get something simple to eat and just threw some bread in the toaster.

He got his toast down before Tenten finally emerged from the shower. She glared at him before going to make herself some toast of her own.

They didn't say anything but Naruto knew she was still a little mad.

He decided to just go take his shower and let her cool off.

Naruto knew that it was his fault she was upset. He didn't exactly understand why it made her upset but walking in on her in the shower is what did it.

He was still only 5 years old and didn't understand the differences in anatomy in females yet.

He got out and got dressed in his 'new' clothes to try and break in his new sandals. They were shinobi sandals just his size.

They both left to walk around the village aimlessly. They didn't talk after Naruto tried to apologize.

Naruto was getting nervous that he was going to lose his only friend after living together for one day.

Naruto finally told Tenten that he didn't want to lose her as a friend over this.

She quirked an eyebrow at that and laughed at him. She pushed him playfully and told him it wasn't that big of a deal.

She explained that she was annoyed at him but was just trying to make sure he wouldn't do it again by ignoring him for a while.

Naruto stuck his tongue out at her and ran ahead into the nearby park.

As Naruto walked into the park, Tenten caught up to him and heard a woman dragging her child away from the park saying what she thought was 'I don't want you to play in the same park as that demon.'

She looked at Naruto and back at that woman only to see she wasn't there anymore.

Tenten didn't think anything of her being gone but again wondered what she meant calling Naruto a demon.

"Naruto-kun, why does everyone glare at you like they don't like you." Tenten asked concerned a bit when he started looking at the ground

She was worried that he looked this down, it had to be bad. "Naruto-kun, are you alright?" She asked putting her hand on his shoulder.

"I can't tell you Tenten-chan. You will just hate me too." Naruto said sadly.

"Do you secretly peek in the woman's side of the bathhouses?" Tenten asked while glaring at him.

Somewhere in the elemental nations Jiraya of the Sannin felt a dark omen.

"What? No why is that your first thought?" Naruto asked.

"Then whatever it is I won't hate you Naruto-kun." Tenten said cheerfully.

Naruto sighed in defeat. "Fine. When I was born the same day the Kyuubi attacked the village. The fourth hokage couldn't kill it so he had to seal it into someting, or someone. I was born the same day so it was deemed the safest person to seal it into."

"What is the Kyuubi?" Tenten asked.

"They Kyuubi is the Nine Tailed Fox that attacked the village 5 years ago. It was a giant fox made of chakra and it killed a lot of people and is now sealed inside of me. The villagers don't understand that I am not the Kyuubi but it's jailer." Naruto said with a downcast expression.

"So because its sealed in you it's not able to do anything right?" Tenten asked.

"I guess so. That's pretty much what the hokage told me." Naruto said.

Tenten hugged Naruto and smiled at him. "There you go. Who cares what's sealed in you. You are still you and you are my friend."

Naruto started crying into her shoulder. "I thought you wouldn't want to be my friend anymore. I was so scared." Naruto said between sobs.

"It's ok Naruto-kun. Something like this isn't enough to scare me off. You are stuck with me." Tenten said with a small laugh.

"You have no idea how much that means to hear that Tenten-chan." Naruto said hugging her even tighter.

In the shadows Itachi disappeared and headed toward the hokage tower.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

"So, Naruto-kun has told Tenten he has the fox in him correct?" Hiruzen asked.

"Yes, she seems to still be friends with him regardless." Itachi said.

"That is good. I'll have Neko tell her that it is a secret so it doesn't spread too far. What of our new friend in T&I?" Hiruzen asked.

"She admitted to calling Naruto a demon and trying to get her child to safety. Would you rather her be put to death or have her tongue removed." Itachi said evenly.

"Cut her tongue out. It will do no good for an example if she just falls out of the world." Hiruzen said.

"It will be done." Itachi said before heading out of the office.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

This was one of the best days ever for Naruto. He managed to tell his best friend his darkest secret and she was still friends with him.

After he finally managed to let go of Tenten, they decided to head back home and get in some target practice.

They decided to put everything they had into it and kept at it until well after noon.

After a few hours of practice they warmed up some lunch and went for another walk. This time for distance.

They returned before the sun set and got more leftovers warming up.

Neko came by and told Tenten that Naruto secret was S-class secret and she could not tell anyone. She understood and there were no problems there.

They went to bed each thinking different thoughts.

Naruto thought about how close he and Tenten had to be for her not to be scared of the Kyuubi.

Tenten thought that Naruto must have been quite stupid to think she would run away from him now.

They would maintain a similar schedule for the next few months in preparation for the academy.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

 **It is finally here. Time for time skips to start happening. This first one is only two months but the story is going to pick up a bit here. Hooray.**

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

The last two months went by in a flash for Naruto and Tenten. Tenten got very good at throwing kunai and started learning how to throw shuriken.

Naruto however was close behind but still learning with kunai.

Itachi would stop by every now and again and teach them a new training exercise.

First it was just to get them to do the basics. Push-ups, sit-ups, jogging instead of walking every morning, ect.

The park where Naruto first told Tenten about the Kyuubi became their favorite spot to jog to. They would jog to there and walk back every morning and every afternoon.

It was close to a mile away so it made for good exercise.

After the first month Naruto's body filled back out and he no longer looked sickly. Much to Tenten's delight.

Naruto had his sixth birthday without anything bad happening.

He even got himself a few small gifts.

Jiraya had left him a green frog wallet. Inoichi got him a simple journal. Hiruzen gave him a small walking staff.

Neko had gotten him a small aloe vera plant and taught him how to take care of it. Secretly she knew he might need it some day if he ever burns himself training, but she didn't tell him that.

Inu and Itachi were both away on missions so they were unable to get him anything, he understood.

The Ichiraku family even gave him a custom ordered extra large bowl with similar designs from the shop. They even brought it out filled with Naruto's favorite ramen.

Once everyone had headed home, Tenten brought out her gift. It was a medium sized fox doll that was a bright orange.

She was worried he would hate it so she didn't want to give it to him while there were guests around. He took one long look at it before throwing his arms around her.

"Thank you Tenten-chan, I love it." Naruto said as he fought back the tears that were threatening his eyes.

She returned the hug and replied. "I'm glad you like it Naruto-kun."

Naruto stayed like that for a few moments before finally letting go.

"Thanks again Tenten-chan. It means so much. I am always worried that people are going to hate me because of the fox. Your the only person our age that knows and accepts me because of it." Naruto said.

"It's all right Naruto-kun. I told you before that I'm not going to leave you behind over something like that." Tenten said kindly.

"You made this the best birthday ever." Naruto said quietly.

"Your welcome Naruto-kun." Tenten said

They relaxed for the rest of the evening together. They talked a bit and realized that they were practically one year closer to being shinobi.

They finally got tired and decided to get some sleep.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

 **Five Months Later**

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Another five months passed before anyone knew what happened.

Tenten was turning seven today and Naruto was practically running in circles trying to figure out what to get her.

Over the last few months Naruto had talked with Inoichi every now and again.

It was at first to make sure that Naruto wasn't being affected by Kyuubi's chakra. After the first visit however they realized he was fine.

After that Inoichi got together with him just to chat.

They boy was very friendly and Inoichi eventually introduced him to his daughter Ino.

They got along fair enough at first. When Ino met Tenten as well however, they began to get along much better.

Ino and Tenten became fast friends and decided to hang out at the park Naruto and Tenten jogged to every morning and afternoon once in a while.

It was Ino's idea that got Naruto out of hot water.

Ino had planned to give Tenten a bit more formal chinese style dress. She told Naruto to get two sets of hair sticks that went with the dress.

Naruto had managed to save up enough money to afford a pair of wooden hair sticks that were carved beautifully.

He had met the chunin that was on medical leave downstairs a few months back and talked to him once in a while.

He was in his late teens and had been hit by a very strong lightning jutsu that fried the nerves in half of his body.

The doctors were worried about operating on him while he was still growing at all so put in him leave until after he stopped growing.

Naruto had offered to help him out every week to make a little bit of money. He had been keeping it separate from his weekly allowances from the hokage.

He had enough money to buy the hair sticks and also decided to take her out to dinner later this evening as well.

He realized he would be sorely underdressed but it was for her after all not him.

The party started off casual enough. Neko came up with some books she used to read when she was younger.

Inu stopped by for a moment to give Tenten a scroll on slightly more advance kunai throwing techniques before he had to run.

Ino came by a little later with Shikamaru and Choji in tow.

They all got to know each other and all got along as a group.

Ino had explained that their parents were a famous shinobi group known for their teamwork.

Naruto, Shikamaru and Choji were talking about more boy stuff while Ino and Tenten were having a girls only talk.

Ino was asking if he held her hand and things like that making Tenten blush a little bit. She had never thought of Naruto that way, had she?

With Naruto's group, they were talking about what is was going to be like in the academy in a few years.

Choji and Shikamaru had a general idea, they parents where shinobi after all.

Naruto drank up the info like his life depended on it.

The party was slowing down a bit and Ino finally gave Tenten her the dress she got her.

Tenten almost broke out in tears at how beautiful it was before giving Ino a huge hug.

She rushed out to the bedroom to put it on.

"Ok Naruto, when she comes back out you gotta compliment her on how good she looks and then give her your gift to her. Got it?" Ino asked in a bossy tone.

Naruto nodded and grabbed his present that he had hid in a cupboard they never used.

A minute later Tenten came out in her dress with a huge smile on her face.

Naruto stood there with a silly grin on his face and his cheeks a little pink.

'Wow she really is pretty.' He thought.

"So, how does it look?" Tenten asked

"It, it, it looks great Tenten-chan." Naruto managed to spit out finally.

"It really does look great Tenten." Ino said as well.

The other boys just nodded as well.

"Here Tenten-chan, I got you this." Naruto said as he fumbled with the box in his hands.

Tenten opened the box and her eyes opened as wide as saucers.

She knew Ino came from a wealthy family so it didn't surprise her too much when she gave her such a nice dress. But when Naruto gave her the beautiful hair sticks she didn't know what to say.

Ino got up and helped her put her hair back up with the hair sticks in and lead her to the mirror.

Tenten started crying at how beautiful she looked. She was always a tomboy but she really liked being pretty like this once in a while.

Naruto, seeing that she was crying got up and asked her what was wrong.

"Nothing is wrong you idiot. They are just so beautiful." She said before throwing her arms around Naruto.

"I'm glad you like them Tenten-chan." Naruto said returning the hug.

"Would you like to go out to a restaurant and eat tonight?" Naruto asked

"Uhh, sure, what brought that on?" Tenten asked.

"Well it is your birthday. I don't know how to cook and you cook all the time. I thought it would be nice to take you somewhere nice tonight." Naruto said, scratching the back of his head.

"Sure." Tenten said with a smile.

They stayed and talked a bit more with everyone before everyone had to leave for dinner.

They walked to a nice, semi formal restaurant owned by the Akimichi family.

They wouldn't turn Naruto away and already knew he was coming and saved him a booth.

They ate quietly, they are still only 6 and 7 years old after all. They both saw it as any other dinner just going somewhere nice.

They started to walk back as it was starting to get dark.

As they walked, Tenten saw that Naruto was still getting a lot of nasty glares.

Now that she knew the reason for them she was even more annoyed by them.

She reached over and grabbed Naruto's hand and stuck her tongue out at a young adult that was staring Naruto down.

Naruto blushed a little bit before looking at Tenten. Seeing that she was sticking her tongue out he stuck his tongue out at the guy too before laughing with her.

"Damn demon whore" The drunk literally spat out. Spitting on Tenten's new dress.

Tenten growled at the man but Naruto instead whistled as loud as he could.

The man did not get a chance to yell out another insult before he was struck in the back of the head with the hilt of a sword.

"Thank you Itachi-san. How is your evening going?" Naruto asked casually.

"It is going well Naruto-kun, or it was until you made me some more paperwork." Itachi said sarcastically.

"Ah, we can't all be having fun now can we." Naruto said with a smile.

"Happy birthday Tenten-san, I had almost missed it." Itachi said, tossing a small box to Tenten.

Tenten smiled catching the box and opening it.

Inside was a pair of small earrings, the same color as her dress.

She looked at Naruto and he looked away, knowing he was busted.

"Thank you Itachi-san, they are very lovely." She said with a small bow.

"Think nothing of it. I better get back to work, enjoy the rest of your evening." Itachi said, throwing the man he had knocked out over his shoulder and disappearing.

Naruto and Tenten started walking back towards their apartment, this time still hand in hand.

The few civilians that had seen Naruto call an Uchiha and was apparently very friendly with him stayed clear of them.

Tenten was curious so she asked Naruto how he called Itachi.

He hadn't, he just heard the guy call him a demon so just whistled to scare everyone else.

Tenten laughed until they finally made it back home.

They got inside and sat down. They were both wore out after a fun day.

Tenten looked down as saw the spit still on her dress. She frowned at it.

Before she could react, Naruto had taken a napkin from the table and started to wipe it off.

Tenten blushed and grabbed his hand.

Naruto looked at her with a confused look.

"I got it Naruto-kun." She said trying not to turn too red.

"Oh, here." He said, giving her the napkin.

She wiped off the rest of the spit from he stomach before tossing the napkin back on the table.

"Bleh, I still feel dirty from that. I'm going to go take a shower." Tenten said walking toward the bedroom to get something to change into.

Naruto sat around for a while waiting for her to get out of the shower. He decided to just get ready for bed.

He went ahead and set his futon up and started to pick up the place a little.

He threw away the napkins and wiped off the table.

When he heard the water turn off he washed the dishes as well.

When Tenten got out of the bathroom, she saw Naruto cleaning and smiled.

She threw her arms around him and thanked him for the best birthday ever.

Naruto returned the hug as said what are friends for.

Tenten smiled and gave him one last squeeze before letting him go. She helped him finish cleaning up the house and went to her bed.

She laid down and pulled out one of the books Neko had given her.

They finally fell asleep and both dreamed about the future.

One a little differently than they had even the night before.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

 **Where they it is.**

 **It was a quick little chapter just full of cuteness. To me at least.**

 **I said a little earlier in the chapter that I am going to start skipping around now. I am still going to put a ton into the academy years so don't expect me to skip the entire thing.**

 **I put both of their birthdays as a way to introduce them to Ino, Shikamaru and Choji and show how their friendships were progressing a bit.**

 **Obviously some people had to be busy and it was a bit of a maturity check on Naruto, he passed.**

 **I hope I didn't lay the romance on too thick. They are still only 6 and 7 after all.**

 **I also hope people are thinking the same way I am in regards to how mature they all are.**

 **Ino is from a shinobi clan. She is very confident and mature for a girl her age because of this. That was also how Inoichi raised her specifically.**

 **Tenten is seven months older than Naruto if I can still do basic math. She is slightly more mature than him because of this.**

 **Naruto and Tenten have also both been in the company of shinobi older than them instead of kids their age. This has also matured them a bit more.**

 **To add even more they have been living on their own for months now. That will make you grow up pretty fast.**

 **Regardless, let me know what you think. If anyone was interested I am still in #TrustByMySide kik group chat if anyone wanted to stop by. Hopefully I can get another chapter out just as fast as this one.**

 **Lastly, for this chapters recommended story it is, The Hope of the Senju Clan by Aragon Potter. After a night of heavy drinking, Minato and Tsunade wind up in bed together. Nine months later Naruto Senju is born. Story follows Naruto as Tsunade's son and it is very close to the top of my read a second time list. Definitely a huge recommend.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Here we are. The chapter that everyone has (probably) been waiting for. Naruto and Tenten finally reaching the academy.**

 **I have no idea how long this chapter will end up being but I am getting to the academy one way or another.**

 **Five chapters and over thirty thousands words seems plenty to get Naruto's childhood. This should be the final chapter of the early childhood arc and be an intro into the next arc, the academy.**

 **I can honestly say I don't know how I feel about the story so far.**

 **On one hand, I am proud of how well it has been received and am pleased with how smooth it was writing it. On the other hand, I had about four thousand words that would have been chapter seven already written out. Now I am going to end up using maybe a tenth of that and scraping the rest.**

 **As I get further into this I keep finding notes that mean nothing anymore because of changing the story in it's entirety.**

 **I actually tried to go to bed after posting chapter five and started daydreaming about jutsu and couldn't sleep. That was two hours ago and now I might as well just stay awake longer.**

 **This story is turning me into even more of an insomniac and I love it.**

 **Enough rambling however. Let's just hop right into Chapter six of Trust By My Side!**

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

 **I do not own Naruto**

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

A few more months had past since Tenten's birthday. She had started wearing her hair sticks at all times.

Naruto was happy that she liked them so much.

He had also taken to taking her out to eat every now and again. She seemed to like getting to wear the dress Ino had gotten her and just being with Naruto.

Tenten realized it was Naruto that made her happy most of the time but she wouldn't tell him why she smiled so much more lately.

Even with how much time they were spending together, they spend just as much time training.

Tenten was getting very proficient with the kunai and shuriken and had even made a dent in the scroll Inu had given her for her birthday on more advanced techniques.

Naruto had finally been proficient enough with kunai to start and learn how to use shuriken.

They had stepped up there physical training a little bit as well.

They now ran in the mornings all of the way to the park and kept up a light jog back for a cooldown.

After their morning run, they would do a few more exercises like stretching then push-ups and sit-ups and the like. After that they would cool off and start on throwing practice.

They had even invested a little bit in a shinobi quality dart board. Instead of darts Naruto used kunai and Tenten would use shuriken. This kept it a bit more fair for now.

In the afternoons they would meet Ino, Shikamaru and Choji at one of Choji's clan's restaurants on occasion or skip lunch with them and meet them at the park they always went to instead.

The benefit of eating at an Akimichi family restaurant with a member of the clan was the generous discount they got. Eating about as much as Choji between the three of them helped too. Naruto would hold food battles once in a while with Choji. The score was 2-5 in favor of Choji. The only way Naruto had won the other two was ramen contests.

Most days however, they would meet at their favorite park and just relax together. Shikamaru had introduced Naruto to the joys of cloud watching and shogi. Ino had introduced Tenten to gossip and tried to get her to spill about what it was like living with a boy.

Tenten usually turned red and said it was normal to her so she didn't understand what Ino meant.

Choji usually ended up bouncing between conversations.

Naruto and Shikamaru would let him play shoji with them but he got bored in between matches. When they were just cloud watching he would also decide to see what the girls were up to instead.

The girls both liked Choji in a friendly manner. He was kind and didn't call them 'troublesome' so he was ok in both of their books.

Ino, Shikamaru and Choji had mentioned that their parents were teaching them how to throw kunai.

Naruto and Tenten had gotten used to talking about their parents after a few months but it always kind of stung hearing the word. They hadn't let it show in months however.

Naruto and Tenten would start to invite them over to play 'Shinobi Darts' with them.

Tenten usually won until she started using shuriken instead of kunai and even then it was close most of the time.

Ino and Tenten had a friendly rivalry going. Naruto tried getting a rivalry out of Shikamaru but he didn't even bother explaining why he didn't want to.

Choji just wasn't cut out for rivalries at all so it left Naruto without a rival.

They would joke around and laugh whenever they could. In time, they all became close to their respective clans as well.

The Yamanaka clan was easy enough. Naruto was already friends with the clan head because of their evaluations they still had every now and again.

The Nara was also rather easy to get along with. Shikaku rather enjoyed messing with Naruto by using mind games on him.

The Akimichi liked anyone that knew how to eat and loved Naruto because of it. They also rather enjoyed Tenten's company as she understood that even girls needed to eat, and she wasn't afraid to ask for seconds.

Tenten was also learning how to cook and that was another plus with the clan as well.

The Akimichi clan usually held a feast for all family friends once a month. Naruto and Tenten were two of the few people outside of the Nara and Yamanaka clans to be asked to attend.

The months kept of passing and their bonds kept getting stronger.

Naruto and Tenten never slowed down their training but there was only so much they could do without formal training. It was nearing a full year since the incident that put them in their apartment together.

Both were fair with kunai and shuriken, both had enough physical strength to match a well grown teenager even though they were both around seven years old.

Even though their physical training was not shinobi level, they were still getting strong.

They both averaged running close to ten miles a day with another two miles of walking.

Neko and Inu had practically disappeared with their mission being more or less void now that they could defend themselves from the civilians that would harm them.

They were still there, just didn't need to be seen in plain sight to deter the civilians.

With Itachi on police duty, he was the main face that the civilians feared when Naruto was around.

No one saw him when he was on duty and when he was off, he would try to socialize with Naruto when he could.

His father was happy at how must trust he had with Naruto and the hokage.

The hokage was happy that Naruto had called him a friend in an earlier meeting with him.

Itachi was happy that Naruto was safe and could hopefully be a good friend with his little brother as well. They would both be in the same class in the academy and he hoped it would lighten Sasuke up a little bit.

An entire year, they had new friends, they had been training well, and they were one year closer to officially joining the academy.

They never once doubted that all of their training would pay off.

Being around Itachi enough had instilled within then the idea of always being prepared for anything.

Naruto had at first thought he had meant to always have a weapon with him.

Itachi explained that it meant you can never know too little. There is always something new to learn.

With his explanation he suggested that they both look to the library for information about everything that they could learn.

Tenten looked into the lifestyles of the various villages around Konoha and also various new cookbooks more focused on maximum health quality over just taste.

She had thought if she could get more out of their food, they could train harder. It would be a small lifestyle change. Tenten had decided to completely devote herself to her career and decided it was all in being prepared for the future.

Naruto however, had looked into more of the historical figures from the village.

He loved reading about the fourth hokage and some of his exploits.

The fourth had always fought to protect his home and that really appealed to Naruto.

It was this history that first put the idea of being hokage into Naruto's head.

During his reading he constantly thought that he would be strong to protect those that were precious to him. His thoughts always seemed to loop back around to Tenten.

He shook his head and focused on his reading.

Aside from history, Shiho had suggested he read about the famous shinobi in the village.

She had thought he might find someone who had a style he would like and look into.

What she didn't expect was him trying to ask about a few anbu members.

When she told him their information was highly confidential, he moved to reading about Itachi and the current hokage.

Seeing just how immaculate Itachi's record was completely solidified his faith in his friend.

Naruto had known Itachi was strong but he never once tried to show off, or even just act superior in any way. It was that kind of humble strength that Naruto respected.

The third hokage was just as incredible. He had never hear his nickname of 'Kami of Shinobi' before and Naruto decided to ask him for a few stories when he wasn't busy.

They had come to the library once a week to get some new books to read during their breaks like this ever since their talk with Itachi.

It was after a few weeks Naruto ran into a question.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Naruto had been reading about the third hokage and discovered that he had his own team a long time ago.

They had came to fame and became known as the legendary sannin.

He decided that if the hokage had taught them and they had such a cool name that they would be good to read up on.

Naruto had read that Tsunade was the granddaughter of the first hokage and the only member of the Senju line still alive.

Tsunade was known everywhere as the greatest medic-nin alive. She was also said to have the strength of one hundred men.

Naruto was amazed by how strong she sounded, but was also not that interested in medics overall so he kept going.

The next was Orochimaru, however, when Naruto tried to find anything about him, there just wasn't any information.

Shiho had explained that he had betrayed the village and all his information was kept in secret.

Naruto understood a little bit and just moved on.

When he got to Jiraya he was a little confused. Jiraya was knows as 'The Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku' and was the only master of fuin-jutsu from the village.

He was also very skilled in nin-jutsu but there was really no praise in that regard only with his skills in fuin-jutsu.

"Hey Shiho-chan, why is Jiraya praised as a master of fuin-jutsu and not nin-jutsu was well? Also, what is fuin-jutsu?" Naruto asked.

"Well Master Jiraya, while good at nin-jutsu did not focus on it so that is probably why he isn't regarded as a master. He is the only master of fuin-jutsu in the village however." Shiho said before seeing the confused look on Naruto's face.

"Oh, right. Fuin-jutsu is the sealing arts. Things like explosive tags and sealing scrolls are made with fuin-jutsu." She explained.

"Why doesn't more people use it then?" Naruto asked.

"Well it is a rather obscure art. There was a small group dedicated to the art before the last war. I think the group disbanded after Master Jiraya left. With no master to teach them, they just abandoned the art." Shiho answered.

"Well, that's just stupid. If Jiraya managed to become super strong with fuin-jutsu it has to be good. Do you have any info on it that I can read?" Naruto asked.

Shiho nodded and went to grab a small scroll about the basic concept of fuin-jutsu for him.

Naruto read through it quickly and was rather interested that it was said to be able to do anything.

He would ask Neko about it when he went home he supposed.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

They rushed home after a bit and Naruto went straight to Neko's door. They talked for a few moments.

She had no knowledge of fuin-jutsu herself, she did however, know that it required perfect handwriting.

Naruto had been keeping a journal for the last year so his handwriting was far better than most kids his age.

He thought it over a bit and decided to try and write better so he could learn fuin-jutsu if he liked it more when he grew up.

Naruto was living by Itachi's words at this point and wouldn't rule anything out.

Neko had told him that he might like fuin-jutsu. He was creative enough to be very good at it.

Neko of course knew that the Uzumaki were the masters of the art. She had thought if she pushed him to prepare for it, he would be able to do well in it.

With that thought in her head she decided to get him a high quality calligraphy set for his next birthday if he was still interested by then.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

By the time his birthday rolled around, he was more than interested in fuin-jutsu.

The hokage had told him a few stories about Jiraya and his skills in the art.

Naruto had never thought that a properly prepared scroll could catch a fireball. It was one of the coolest things Naruto had heard of.

He had also learned that the fourth hokage became famous because of his jutsu that used primarily fuin-jutsu.

Being able to teleport blew Naruto away.

Naruto was learning a lot in the last few months and he showed no signs of slowing down.

With how eager Naruto was getting, Itachi decided it was time that he learned actual tai-jutsu.

Itachi started coming around every few nights to show them the motions of the academy basic style and left them a few scrolls on them.

His hope, was they would be able to start off a step ahead of everyone else and serve as a motivation that hard work and dedication could beat out someone's clan name.

While Itachi was proud to be from the Uchiha clan, he did not agree with how they held that over everyone's head.

He believed that respect for ones strength should not be given, but earned.

After a few more months of training, Itachi and Neko deemed them ready for the academy.

There was a lot of celebrating and a lot of ramen that night.

Without either Itachi or Neko needing to remind him to continue training, Naruto had already said he was going to keep going with it.

With both of them advancing in all of their training, they were getting more and more excited for the new year to come.

It was getting close to the start of the new academy year and Naruto and Tenten were thinking back a bit on their journey so far.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Naruto had been thinking about all the time he had spent training. After the first few months, he was no longer malnourished. He had felt like a completely new person and would never go back to that.

He had worked on his calligraphy in his spare time and mostly made his handwriting neater with his journal.

All of his friends were going to join the academy together and he could hardly wait.

Everything was an experience for him.

When Tenten had cut herself pretty bad during training, he had managed to learn a bit more than basic first aid from Neko.

Inu had taken him around the village and he learned a ton about the various plants and animals that were frequent in the area.

There were many edible mushrooms and berries that he had taken with him.

When he found some of the same foods in training ground 43, near the forest of death, it had helped with their food budget.

They were able to save up a bit more money and buy some newer clothes eventually.

He had even met a rather interesting person one day. One, Anko Mitarashi.

She had seen him poking his head around training ground 43 on her way to the forest of death and decided to scare him.

What she wasn't expecting him to do was pull a kunai on her.

"You have some balls huh kid." She said with a smirk.

"You scared me, what did you expect me to do, pee myself?" Naruto asked sarcastically.

"Well, yes actually. You seem way to young to be out this way. What's your name gaki?" Anko asked

"Naruto Uzumaki, who are you." Naruto asked, never letting go of his kunai.

"Ah, I know you now. I'm the dangerously sexy and single Anko Mitarashi gaki." She said with an absolutely terrifying grin on her face.

"Wait, you know me? How?" Naruto asked.

"I'm in T&I. How would you expect me to not know of you. You have sent a rather hefty amount of people our way. I should probably thank you for that honestly." Anko said, picking her nails with a kunai.

"What do you mean by that?" Naruto asked, getting a little nervous.

"Well when people tried to kill you they came to us after they were caught. Caught a lot of people we weren't expecting too after that fiasco in the hospital." She said like she wasn't interested anymore.

Naruto was at a loss for words. He was responsible for people going to T&I. No, they tried to kill him, it was how it was supposed to work.

Naruto was snapped out of his down thoughts when Anko snapped her fingers in front of his face.

He had been staring at her while thinking about that and Anko wasn't going to let that slide.

"See something you like gaki?" Anko asked in a sweet tone while moving her hips to her other side.

"Ehh?" Naruto said, oh so intelligently.

"You were staring you pervert." She said in a mock hurt tone.

"I was? Oh, sorry I was thinking about something else." Naruto replied evenly

"Haha, I like you gaki. Most people would have turned into a bumbling idiot after I caught them staring." Anko started before appearing behind Naruto and wrapping her arms around him.

"Seems I will have to try harder with you." She whispered in his ear, pressing her chest into his back.

"Uhh, ok? I guess?" Naruto said, rather confused by what she was doing.

Anko let go of him and allowed him to turn around. She leaned forward to stare at him, intentionally letting her coat open more than she should have.

As she looked him in the eye, she noticed his eyes stayed focused on her and didn't look at her chest.

"Hmm, you are not a pervert I guess. You are only what, seven years old. Guess that makes sense. Oh well, I gotta run gaki." Anko said before disappearing.

'Well she was rather odd.' Was all Naruto thought before he went back to finding some food in the forested area of the training field.

'Well the gaki is a village pariah like me. He doesn't seem to have been too screwed up from the glares and swears thrown his way. He is going to be a strong kid I am sure of it.' Anko was thinking before diving into the forest of death to get some training in.

Naruto had ended up talking to Neko about Anko a few days later.

Neko had given him her back story about how she was Orochimaru's student when he was still loyal to the village.

When he chose to leave and not come back, he took Anko with him. At the time, she didn't know he was never coming back, she was told it was a training trip.

She was eventually found in a lab, strapped to a table and the only survivor of an experiment.

Many ninja and civilians didn't trust her because of her sensei's betrayal.

Naruto understood that she was much like him and decided to get to know her more if he saw her again.

Over the next few months he had seen her a few times and each time they talked a little more.

Anko wasn't really one to talk to a kid, but they were admittedly similar enough to not just ignore the boy.

He was one of the few people that didn't judge her based on her sensei and in return she never judged him because of the fox.

She was also rather enjoying talking to someone that wasn't a pervert for once, but she would enjoy teasing him when he grew up a bit more.

Naruto started to drift a little further into the past and thought about all of the time he had spent with Tenten.

He knew that after the academy, they might end up having to go their separate ways.

The thought had used to scare him, now he knew that if it happened, they would always be comrades in arms if nothing else.

They had just become completely at ease together over the last few months.

It had been on Naruto's 7th birthday. Some drunken fool had managed to shatter their bedroom window with a rock.

Unfortunately for that idiot, Tenten slept with a kunai next to her futon and was still awake.

She had rushed out the door and had hit him in the leg from their front balcony.

His screaming about devil spawns and whores had alerted the anbu patrolling nearby. He was found guilty of breaking the hokage's law and sentenced to death.

It had taken a few weeks to get the money from the man's now widowed wife to repair the window.

Worse of all, it had been a rather cold October that year.

They had tried to sleep out in the living room but the cold ran through the entire house.

They ended up just getting over how awkward it was and sleeping closer together.

Naruto didn't know it was awkward until Tenten tried to explain it to him.

He still didn't understand and Tenten just gave up with it.

She was starting to realize Naruto was just too innocent. He was seven years old but even she knew than sharing a bed with someone of the opposite gender was awkward.

Maybe she was looking at him the wrong way.

Tenten couldn't quite put her finger on it. She just went with it. After living together for over a year, she trusted him inexplicably.

Between that and how cold it was, she just shared a futon with him.

It went on like that for a while until they could get the window repaired and by then it was just a habit for both of them.

From there, Tenten just got over any embarrassment from being around him.

He was still a zombie in the morning and would walk in when she was in the shower from time to time to go to the bathroom.

She stopped yelling at him when she realized he wasn't doing it on purpose and wasn't peeking or anything.

Naruto would still give her privacy if he was awake enough to realize she was in the shower. They had both stopped bothering with it after another few months.

Tenten had always had the thought that one day it would change and his hormones would kick in.

It never came though. One morning he had walked in when she was pulling her panties up after getting out of the shower.

She was all but completely naked and he saw her. He just apologized and walked back out of the bathroom.

Tenten wasn't mad. She wasn't embarrassed. She had just shrugged and finished getting dressed.

Somewhere in her mind, she knew it was wrong. She just, didn't care about that. They lived together and had survived together.

Neither one of them had thought they would have done as well as they had if they were living alone.

It was shortly after that, Ino caught wind of them being even closer now.

They had taken to holding hands whenever they were casually walking somewhere and Ino was determined to get to the bottom of it.

All she ended up finding was them eating dinner together every now and again. She was hoping for more romance but it just never happened.

Ino lost interest after a few weeks and they were left in peace.

Tomorrow was the day they had been waiting for.

They had come far in their studies and now the time was here to continue on to the academy.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Tenten woke up the next morning rather groggy.

She had kept herself up late thinking too much.

She got up and stretched. It was a big day so she grabbed a change of clothes and walked into the bathroom for a shower.

She had gotten her shirt off before she realized the shower was running.

She quirked her head to the side before calling out. "Naruto-kun?"

He poked his head around the curtain and smiled. "Yes, Tenten-chan?"

Tenten realized she was topless and Naruto was looking at her but she just didn't care at that point. His eyes were locked onto her eyes so it didn't matter.

"How did you manage to wake up before me? You never wake up before me." She said still confused.

"I kept waking up at night so I just got out of bed eventually." Naruto said with a shrug before pulling his head back behind the curtain. "I will be done in just a second." He called out.

Tenten shrugged and threw her shirt back on before walking out to get some leftovers reheating.

Naruto came out a minute later and told her the shower was open.

"Leftovers are on the stove. Make me a plate, I'll be out before it gets cold." She called to him before closing the door.

Naruto checked on the leftovers before he went to the bedroom to put up the futon.

He made them each a plate and dug in to the leftovers. Tenten came out just a minute later and ate with him.

The hurried with their meal and went to go through their shinobi gear they had each acquired over the last two years.

Naruto was wearing a pair of black shinobi pants and sandals with his 'Iwa' kunai holster strapped to his right thigh. He had a white t-shirt with a red 'Uzumaki' insignia on his chest and an open black and orange jacket.

(Think the jacket from part two of cannon.)

Tenten was wearing a pink sleeveless qipao-style blouse with red sleeve trimmings and yellow fastening buttons with dark green pants, her kunai holster on her right thigh and blue sandals.

(Cannon appearance)

They both looked at each other. Tenten adjusted his collar and Naruto smoothed out a wrinkle on her shoulder.

Both nodded at each other and ran out the house. They raced to the academy and stood in front of be building for a moment.

"It's finally time isn't it?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, we finally start our official training today. Let's go." Tenten said before walking in.

They found their classroom and were surprised to see they were the first ones to arrive.

They looked at the clock and laughed. They were almost an hour early.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

After an hour of waiting the classroom filled up.

They had sat toward the back of the room close to the window.

Ino, Shikamaru and Choji were all in the same class as them and decided to sit together with them.

Shikamaru sat next to the window with Choji next to him. Ino sat by Choji and Naruto sat in-between Ino and Tenten.

They had been watching the last few people come in and they were honestly disappointed by most of their other classmates.

Some were too loud, some were too weak looking, some just didn't seem to have the idea to dress for the job.

As the last people took their seats their instructor entered.

"Good morning class. My name is Iruka Umino. I will be your homeroom sensei for the next six years. I will in charge of teaching you basic shinobi knowledge and form."

"In your first two years, you will be learning the basics of the shinobi lifestyle and be training your bodies to the point you can proceed into the advanced classes." Iruka continued.

"You will all learn chakra control along with starting on your hand to hand combat and ranged weapon training. After your first two years you will be having morning classes with me and be allowed to split to take separate advanced classes that you show promise in while in my class."

"To clarify, there will be multiple exams through out the year that test your skills in each aspect we cover in the academy. You will learn the basics of each in this first two years and if your grades permit, you will advance down your best subjects."

"Those subjects are divided up like this. Nin-jutsu, Gen-jutsu, Tai-jutsu, Ken-jutsu, and Fuin-jutsu. Your third and fourth years will be will be your chance to become effective in any of these basic branches. All students will need to pass tai-jutsu and one other style to be eligible to graduate or move to your last two years."

"For your final two years in this academy, there will be a chance to test out and become a genin early or take the last two years to take advanced courses with similar themes."

"While some may test out early, taking these courses have the potential to advance your skill exponentially. They all deal heavily on theory and you will do as well in those classes as you set your mind to."

Iruka took a breath and looked at the looks he was getting. Almost everyone seemed egger to start, he took that as a job well done.

"Finally, when you graduate the academy, you will be tasked to build a three man team based on your combined strength and weaknesses. All teams will be evaluated and myself and the other instructors will look at your team composition and either pass or fail all three of you."

There were a few murmurs around the class about how unfair that was but Iruka kept everyone calm.

"It may seem unfair but if you were to, say for example, make a team with no real synergy, on your first mission out you may find yourself against a specialized team on the same mission for another village. If they have a balanced team that can cover each other well. You would be hard pressed to defeat them." Iruka explained.

"Now then, let's get right into the class work. I am going to hand you all a few papers. The first is a basic IQ test. The second is a simple geography exam. The third is a form to start up an academy budget with you all. Every academy student is responsible for buying and maintaining their own weapons. If you cannot be trusted with this money, you cannot be trusted with important documents and will be cut from the program." Iruka said with no joke in his voice.

"We will do the IQ test first. When I say begin, turn over your test and begin. When you complete it, turn it over and raise your hand. I will nod record how long it took you. After, sit quietly until everyone is done. There is a twenty minute time limit." Iruka said waiting for a few moments to make sure everyone understood.

"Alright, begin." Iruka said as the clock hit 7:10.

Naruto had flipped his test over and looked it over. It wasn't hard, exactly. There were a few questions that he had to stop and think about.

Some of the questions were mostly reasoning skills. What are you supposed to do when this happens kind of questions.

He had finished in around 15 minutes and thought he had done fairly well. He looked around and saw that Ino and Tenten smiled at him and were already done. Shikamaru was apparently done so long ago that he was sleeping.

"Ok, times up. I'm going to gather up the tests and grade them. While I am doing that I want you to start on you basic geometry test. Your time limit is twenty minutes again." He gathered up the tests before calling for everyone to start.

As Iruka was going through the tests he was marking down their rating down. Each student would be tested in raw IQ, geography, physical strength, speed, and accuracy with ranged weapons on the first day. Their chakra would be unlocked at the end of the day and they would be encouraged to practice feeling it overnight.

When they returned they would have their chakra capacity evaluated. This score would be compared to their capacity at the end of their second year. Their growth would be measured and would be used as a measuring stick to get an estimate of their potential.

There were cut offs that if students did not have enough chakra they would not be able to enter the nin-jutsu classes. Their control had to be enough to join the gen-jutsu class as well.

He was currently grading their IQ tests and rating them on a 1-10 scale. He was rather pleased with the results overall.

Naruto, Ino, and Tenten all scored a seven out of ten. Sakura Haruno, Shino Aburame and Hinata Hyuga had scored eight out of tens. Shikamaru Nara however, he got a perfect score and finished the fastest in the class.

He had to pull out the sheet that added to everyone's totals based on their times. He was shocked to see that Shikamaru had come rather close to breaking the overall record. If he didn't yawn and stretch when he started he might have tied it.

All of his answers were perfect. Explanations were done with minimal excess information. Others that did not require details did not have any.

He made a note to talk to the hokage after class. Last time someone scored this high they got an apprenticeship with the cryptanalysis core.

Iruka waited on the last few minutes before calling an end to the test.

"All right. This last sheet you all have is about your academy allowance for tools and resources. This allowance is for use buying weapons and training gear. If you fail to have the required gear, even with the proper money, you will be expelled. Is that clear? Then everyone reread the sheet and sign at the bottom." Iruka said before taking a seat and grading the geography tests.

The test was mostly just basic landmarks and climates of them. He was glad to see that most people knew where the other major villages were located and what the climate was there.

Some of the more minor villages the kids did not get as well. It was not too much of a concern. Just a test to get a feel on who he would need to focus on at first.

When he finished grading the tests he looked up to make sure everyone had their forms completed. After he received each of them he began to read through them.

Some of the clan children had elected to decline the allowance and that was rather honorable to him. He pulled out a stack of cards that were simple permission slips and identification so they would be able to buy weapons at such a young age and collect their academy allowance.

When he finished, he called up those who had accepted the allowance and had them come get their cards.

He explained that they had to show those cards to the hokage's front office to receive their allowance and also show then to weapon vendors to be able to purchase weapons.

Iruka also gave each of the a small list of things they would need to bring by tomorrow.

They were required to get their own set of training kunai and shuriken, a set of training weights, and a wooden sword if they planned on going through ken-jutsu training later down the line.

They would have to get more supplies further now the line, for now it was just a test to see if they would do it.

"All right, everyone that needed one have a card?" Iruka asked the class.

Everyone said yes.

"Any questions before we head out to the range?" He asked.

Naruto stood up. "Iruka-sensei, are we required to buy training quality gear or are we able to buy whatever we want?" he asked.

Iruka thought on it a moment. Most kids elected to get training gear because it was cheaper and if they were lost it was not that big of a problem. However, "You can buy whatever quality you like, but it is still your responsibility to maintain your gear. If you lose them, you have to replace them, understood?" Iruka replied.

"Yes sensei." Naruto said.

"All right then, let's head outside and test your throwing accuracy and tai-jutsu." Iruka said before turning toward the door.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

'All right class, first we will be testing your throwing accuracy and strength with kunai, then shuriken. When I call your name, come to the line and throw ten kunai to the targets. Each different target hit is an extra point, so try to hit all ten targets for the best score. You will also be timed so try to do it fast." Iruka explained.

All ten targets were of different sizes, and distances away. Students that scored high enough were often pulled to the side during regular practice times to work on other subjects or given time to freely train by themselves.

This allowed the instructors to focus on those that needed the help and offer a bit of an incentive to work harder for the extra free time.

There were also remedial classes for those that scored too low or had never thrown a weapon before at the end of every day.

No one ever wanted to get stuck in those classes after all.

As Iruka called through the class roster he was overall pleased with the results.

All of the members of the major clans had higher than average results.

Even several of the kids from civilian families had managed to learn how to throw kunai before getting to the academy.

It was a good sign.

Naruto was finally up and he had managed to sink ten bull's-eyes in fourteen seconds.

He was not the first one to get a perfect score but he had done it several seconds faster than the rest of the class.

The final person to throw was Tenten. She walked up to the kunai with a sense of purpose.

She grabbed a each of them and weighed them in her hand before placing them back on the table.

Iruka paused for a moment. 'Is she skilled enough to need to measure the weight of them before tossing them?' Iruka thought before he called for her to start.

As soon as she heard start, Tenten flew into action.

She grabbed a kunai in each hand and tossed them both at different targets, still hitting her mark.

She did this with all ten kunai and ended with a perfect score and a time of only eight seconds.

Iruka was beyond impressed. She had cut the time that most of the clan heirs had put up in half.

If she knew how to throw a shuriken, she would no doubt get advanced to the advanced class.

He congratulated her and told her that if she got a good score on the shuriken test, she may very well be taken out of their weapon training class and put in the advanced class.

Tenten frowned at this. She did not want to leave Naruto behind so she thought about what to do before her turn came back up.

When it came time for Naruto's turn he managed to score a nine out of ten and still had one of the best times. He was only beaten by Sasuke Uchiha.

Tenten took her spot and waited for the signal to start.

When she started to throw, Naruto was confused. She was missing a few of the targets on purpose.

She threw and hit perfectly all of the hardest targets and then on her last three throws she tossed them so they would bounce off their targets instead of sink in.

Iruka shook his head. He knew that she would have gotten a perfect score if she wanted to. He really should advance her to the next class anyway but decided not to when he saw how popular she seemed.

He would mention her to the hokage as well as a possible prodigy.

The academy was built on the principle that bonds were important to building trust and honor.

Those that would inherit the will of fire needed to be able to put down their lives for their loved ones.

Tearing apart a group of friends, while in and of itself, shouldn't make a different. Iruka could tell just how close they were and that they would advance much faster together.

He recorded her results as they were. It put her just below the line of automatically advancing to the advanced classed but she would still be miles ahead of the rest of her peers.

"All right then, everyone gather around. We are going to start spars to see how your form is at the start of your careers. The better you do here, the faster you can advance onward. I will call you out in pairs and you will fight until one of you is knocked to the ground or tossed outside of the ring." Iruka said

The fights were rather predictable. All of the clan heirs destroyed the civilians. Naruto had won his first two fights against civilians and he was now on his final fight against Sasuke.

Sasuke had already gotten a few girls to cheer for him. They all liked the dark, mysterious type of guys and he was looking untouchable in the spars he had already done.

He had made a fool out of a civilian kid and did not even show Kiba Inuzuka any real interest.

Kiba, having scared a few of the other kids with how ferocious he was in his first fight were impressed how easily Sasuke beat him.

"Ah, so you are Itachi's little brother." Naruto said without a care in the world.

Getting no response he decided to try and pry into his pride a bit. "He always said you always tried so hard. If only you weren't such a disappointment." Naruto continued with a smirk.

Sasuke was clenching his teeth at this point. 'This bastard thinks he can talk down to me. I am the son of the Uchiha clan head.' Sasuke yelled in his mind.

Naruto was trying not to laugh at how easy he was making this. Naruto saw Iruka get ready to start the fight and decided to pound in the final nail.

"Well, I am sure you will get out of Itachi's shadow eventually." Naruto said before dropping into his stance.

"Begin." Iruka said.

Sasuke was practically seeing red at this point.

Naruto just insulted his pride and you never mess with an Uchiha's pride.

As soon as he heard being he lunged at Naruto.

Naruto smirked as he remembered what Itachi had told him when he started training tai-jutsu.

'You must always keep calm. An angry opponent is a sloppy opponent. They only need to make one mistake and if you can capitalize on it, you win.' Itachi had told him.

Itachi had tried to get Naruto started with the academy style tai-jutsu but it was far too rigid for Naruto's tastes.

He soon found Naruto was better with a counter heavy style. While it was anything but complete, Naruto had worked hard on the moves.

It focused mostly on being fast enough to dodge the first punch, or strong enough to take it head on. From there, Naruto would go for a counter.

In this case, Sasuke was charging at him with as much form as a bull might have.

At the last moment before Naruto got punched in the face, he sidestepped to the right of Sasuke's extended right arm, grabbed his wrist, slid his left leg and hip in front of Sasuke's legs and slammed his other hand into his shoulder.

What this accomplished was when he grabbed his wrist, he pulled Sasuke forward just a bit. With that extra forward momentum, he forced Sasuke to try and take an extra step forward to compensate.

He was not able to take that extra step because of Naruto's leg being in front of his. Naruto could then pull Sasuke's feet off the ground just an inch by ramming his hip into Sasuke's.

This made it impossible for Sasuke to use his feet to correct himself when Naruto slammed him, face first into the ground and pulled his arm behind his back.

The winner was Naruto.

Naruto knew that if he had tried to fight Sasuke with a level head he would have lost, bad. But an angry Sasuke was mostly harmless.

When Naruto let go of Sasuke, Sasuke got up and tried to throw another punch at the back of Naruto's head, only to be stopped by Iruka.

"Sasuke Uchiha, I have called the end of the match and the winner is Naruto Uzumaki. Any fighting outside of sanctioned spars will be met with suspension. Is that clear?" Iruka asked in a threatening tone.

Sasuke just nodded and pulled his arm out of Iruka's grip.

"All right all right. We have one last test before we head back inside. It is simply a one mile run to get a grasp of how fast everyone is. This track is a quarter of a mile long so you will run four laps." Iruka said

"All right, begin." Iruka said, taking out his notebook and recording the results of the spars.

Naruto and Tenten both won all three of their spars. Tenten fighting only civilians and Naruto beating Sasuke.

None of the kids would be moving on to the advanced class early but he could tell that it was going to be a great class overall.

Watching everyone run he saw a few obvious front runners. Kiba and Sasuke were both even leading the pack and shortly behind them was Naruto and Tenten.

Iruka wasn't sure of it but it seemed that they were almost pacing themselves.

It wasn't until the final lap that Kiba and Sasuke were starting to wear out. They were practically sprinting as much of it as they could and it slowed them down at the end.

Naruto and Tenten passed them both and won by a few seconds.

Neither one of them seemed to be breathing too terribly hard and their good scores reflected it.

Iruka waited for everyone to finish running and called everyone back to the classroom.

"Ok class, take a quick break. Get a drink, and meet back in the classroom in ten minutes." Iruka said before walking back to the classroom himself.

When everyone was back and seated he called everyone's attention.

"Class, we have a guest for this last part. He is the current head of the hospital and will be unlocking everyone's chakra. Please welcome, Dr. Alda." Iruka said before turning to the man entering the classroom.

Dr. Alda was a taller man standing at six foot two inches. Black hair that was slightly unkempt with a hint of grey to it. He wore a white lab coat, a bright, hawaiian shirt with black shinobi shorts under his coat. He wore a leaf headband wrapped around his right bicep.

Overall, he looked like a civilian but the headband marked him as a shinobi. It confused a few of the kids.

"Well, my name is Dr. Alda. I'm here to unlock your chakra network. Most people, it will not hurt, but the more chakra you have, the worse it's going to be. Some of you clan kids may have already had your chakra unlocked, I am going to go over it again anyway. Any questions?" He asked in a bored tone.

He saw a few hand raise and really didn't care.

"Well that's what your teacher is for, I will be in the next room so you kiddies can have your damn privacy you all whine about." He said gruffly before walking out.

"Right, well lets get this over with. When I call your name, head to the next classroom over and follow his instructions." Iruka sighed. "All, instructions. If you can't follow his instructions I am just going to kick you out and you can join next year. He is not a patient man and I am not going to escort any of you to the hospital to get his done, am I clear?" Iruka asked.

Everyone nodded and he started going down the list.

The reason Iruka didn't want anyone to question the man was the previous year, a girl had refused to remove her shirt and he was unable to unlock her chakra so he kicked her out and refused to bother with her. The previous teacher had to drag the girl to the hospital and get a female nurse to do it.

One by one everyone went to the other room and came back. Some seemed exhausted, some seemed fine, some were literally carried back by Dr. Alda.

When it was finally Naruto's turn he walked over.

Inside was Dr. Alda and also Jiraya standing inside.

"Master Jiraya, why are you here?" Naruto asked in a confused tone.

"Master? Where did that come from gaki. I'm here because if opening your chakra network fully causes you to go into a blood rage, I can hold you down." Jiraya explained.

"Ah." Naruto said. "Oh, you are the only fuin-jutsu master in the village correct?" Naruto asked Jiraya.

"Well yeah, it is more or less a dead art at this point. Why gaki, you interested in the art?" Jiraya asked.

"Yes, I read up on it a little and you became a sannin being a master of fuin-jutsu so why doesn't everyone use it?" Naruto replied.

Jiraya just chuckled at the kid. "It's difficult, that's why." Jiraya said. "Though I guess it does run in the family so why not." Jiraya mumbled a little too loud.

"Run's in the family?" Naruto asked.

"Are we going to do this or have a nice sappy reunion here?" Dr. Alda asked.

"Sorry doctor. What do I need to do." Naruto asked.

"Sit on that stool, take your shirt off and read the board." He said pointing at the black board.

The black board had an explanation on what the procedure was going to entail.

Basically the doctor was going to do was pop open the first gate long enough to have the chakra flow through his entire body and open every tenketsu point in his body.

The biggest danger of that was the sudden influx of chakra into a body that had never experienced it before was like pumping straight adrenalin directly into a person's heart.

His heart would be excited by the intense chakra from the first gate and could potentially beat out of control if it wasn't done properly.

That is why his shirt was off. If he did not have his hand as close to his heart as possible, he would not have enough focus to regulate his chakra to keep his heart beat down.

After a few moments, the chakra released from the first gate would take hold in their system and he could close the gate without them losing all of their chakra he had just released.

While every person had chakra constantly flowing through them, their tenketsu were only open a slight bit.

Opening the first gate would force them fully open and allow a fair amount of chakra to be produced.

If someone were to never open their chakra network this way. They would be living with a permanent handicap and could take years of training before they fully opened their tenketsu and could work on strengthening their chakra coils.

"All right, do you understand enough of that so we can get started?" Dr. Alda asked.

Naruto nodded and Dr. Alda gave him a piece of wood and placed a hand on his head and his heart.

"Kid, this is going to hurt like hell. I would recommend biting on that hunk of wood and not letting go." Dr. Alda said, waiting for him to put the brick of wood in and bite on it before his hands flared up with chakra.

The doctor was not kidding.

When Naruto had first experienced the Kyuubi's chakra flowing through his system it had been a shock to his system. It had however jump started it and given him fair reserves.

However, his chakra had slowly drained down to average after two years of no use.

His body remembered that he had the capacity to have that much chakra and when the gate opened, it was a flood gate.

Most kids experience five times their basic chakra capacity when opening the gate. Five times very little usually meant it was uncomfortable and some kids had felt tired after.

Naruto however, was having enough chakra to kill off an inexperienced chunin flood through the first gate.

Naruto's coils were still strong because of the corrosive nature of the demonic chakra that was still trickling through his system.

But going from very little chakra to a lot in an instant felt like his blood was boiling.

The doctor held it open for only a few seconds before forcing the gate back closed. When it closed however, the Kyuubi's chakra started to stir as well.

"Jiraya, seal, now!" Dr. Alda managed to say before getting thrown across the room by the pure chakra rolling off Naruto.

Jiraya lunged at Naruto with a demonic chakra seal in hand and slapped it on Naruto's forehead.

After a second, the Kyuubi chakra dropped off and Naruto passed out.

Jiraya sighed. He looked at Naruto's seal and it was still fine. He guessed that how much chakra seeped out was based on how much he had. With the gate open, it was a lot so more came out. Without having proper training in the matter it overwhelmed him pretty quick.

"Ah, reminds me of the good old days. Was starting to forget what broken ribs felt like. Now all I need is some good booze and I might feel twenty one again." Dr. Alda said as he dusted himself off and started to mend his broken rib.

"No kidding." Jiraya said before unsealing a bottle of sake and handing the doctor a saucer.

They didn't need to say anymore as Jiraya poured some sake and they both threw it back.

"Damn, that's the good stuff Jiraya-sama." Dr. Alda said. "Nothing but the best." Jiraya replied.

They took a few minutes to relax and to let Dr. Alda mend his rib.

Dr. Alda sighed. "Well lets get this over with." He said as he pulled himself up.

He threw Naruto over his shoulder and headed to the other room.

Dr. Alda walked in, ignoring the gasps, and unceremoniously dropped Naruto on the deck he was sitting behind.

Seeing the mortified looks of his friends he sighed. "He is fine, he just passed out." He had said before heading out the door. He dropped a scroll off at Iruka's desk before leaving.

Iruka just stared at him as he walked away.

He had heard he was a little, odd, but that was completely screwy for how a doctor should act.

Iruka realized the class was staring at him and cleared his throat.

"Well, now that you all have your chakra paths opened fully and should have an easier time accessing it. I want you all to meditate for a while when you get home. I want you to try and see the differences that having more chakra through your body feels like. We will be starting on chakra control tomorrow so get a start tonight. I will give you all a copy of your scores in a moment and then class will be dismissed." Iruka said before going through the scroll Dr. Alda gave him.

He had tallied up their scores and gave a copy to give to each of the kids.

He made a note on Tenten's telling her that she will stay in this class and not to hold back anymore.

He thought a bit on the other scores though.

Naruto's chakra capacity test Dr. Alda had given had said chunin level, 256.

Iruka was a fairly low leveled chunin and his chakra level was around 270 last he checked.

Did that mean that Naruto already had about as much chakra as him?

The average among the kids were in the thirties to fifties. Most graduates ended close to 120.

He just added it to thinks to talk to the hokage about later.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

With everyone going right toward the hokage office, Naruto, Tenten, Ino, Shikamaru and Choji decided to go to Ichiraku instead first.

They had to practically drag Naruto for the first half before he could walk himself.

A little celebratory lunch for their first day sounded like a great idea to get their energy back.

As they walked they talked about their scores.

Shikamaru of course had the highest IQ and everyone hated him for it.

Everyone was rather pleased with all of their results.

They were all towards the top of the class in just about everything.

Everyone teased Naruto non-stop about how they thought for sure he wasn't going to get any of the questions right.

They all laughed about it and realized that if they rounded out their academy days with similar scores, they could make chunin within a year of graduation.

They were laughing until they got to Naruto's chakra test.

"256?!" Ino shouted. "That's more than all of us combined what the hell Naruto."

"What can I say, I am just that awesome." Naruto said with a grin.

She kept hounding Naruto about it for a few more minutes until they could finally see the stall.

Shikamaru had noticed that Tenten hadn't seemed even slightly surprised and that caught his interest. He would ask her about it later.

When they had finally reached the ramen stand, Ayame greeted everyone.

"Ayame-onee-chan, can you get me a bowl of miso and keep 'em coming." Naruto said before sitting on his favorite stool.

"Is that Naruto?" Teuchi hollered from the kitchen area.

"Yeah it's me old man. We finished our first day at the academy and decided to celebrate." Naruto yelled back.

Teuchi had come from the back to see Naruto and saw everyone.

"Well, I hadn't known you brought your friends from the back. How did you all do on the entrance exams?" Teuchi asked, eyeballing Naruto.

"Well, Tenten could have gotten to an advanced class if she wanted to. Shikamaru's IQ is over 200. And Ino, Choji and myself all scored in the top five percent of the class overall." Naruto said grinning at the old man.

"Well, in that case, first rounds on the house. You know what, I'll offer you a free bowl for every month you are in the top five percent of your class." Teuchi said with a laugh.

'One free bowl and he usually throws down an extra four more minimum. Should even out the costs quite nicely.' Teuchi thought.

Everyone got their ramen and talked a bit more about what they were hoping the classes were going to be like and who they thought they should try and get into their group.

So far, Sasuke was out, much to Ino's dismay. He was far too prideful and it would get far too annoying.

Kiba was out, he was just too loud.

Hinata was a maybe. She seemed like she would be quite strong, she was just far to timid at the time.

Shino was quiet, smart, and skilled. They thought if they could actually manage to talk to him that they might invite him to hang out some time.

Ino had known Sakura and was friends with her so they would try and get her to come with them some day.

There were really no other standouts in their class.

Most of the civilians just did not possess the attitude they wanted to be around.

They decided to just not worry about it for the time being. It was only the first day after all.

After their lunch, Ino, Shikamaru and Choji all headed home to get some money for gear.

Naruto and Tenten headed toward the weapon shop that Neko had recommended a while back. Higurashi Arms.

They had barely made it two steps into the shop before they could hear a yell from the back room.

"Welcome to Higurashi Arms, one moment." A gruff voice from the back called out.

Tenten and Naruto were just looking around the shop in awe.

There was everything a shinobi could ever need.

Kunai, shuriken, caltrops, ninja wire, katanas, tantos, staffs, vests, jackets, armor mesh, wraps, holsters, sandals, and a ton of other weapons they could not identify.

They both glanced at each other and almost squealed in excitement before dashing around the store.

They were kids in a candy shop, but the candy shop was shinobi gear.

They would most likely be broke before they left but they could not be more excited.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

 **Well that is a wrap.**

 **Looks like a little over 10k words and I gotta say it went a lot smoother than the previous chapters.**

 **I hope the distinct lack of actual dialogue doesn't turn too many people away. I had figured I would have nearly doubled the length of this without adding anything if I filled the entire thing out.**

 **Before anyone asks, I have no idea if there is even a need to 'activate' ones chakra. I completely made that part up and rather like the idea myself.**

 **It basically is forcefully expanding their reserves to a level that it can be felt and manipulated without months of meditation to feel.**

 **With this, it would make most kids less than a week to find their chakra, feel it move through their body and learn how to manipulate it.**

 **Dr. Alda is just a character I threw in. He is in charge of the hospital now and really doesn't want to be. I based him off of a character from somewhere else. If anyone guesses it right, you win a virtual sticker.**

 **My main worry is that the pace of this chapter is kind of jumpy. I went through it and didn't see any major problems but if anyone can spot a stupid section let me know.**

 **Lastly, I do not have internet anymore. I cannot afford it. So I will be updating when I can visit a friend with internet. Timing may be a bit wonky but don't worry.**

 **The time between updates will be spent trying to build a slightly more accurate timeline for this story that hopefully I can get onto the internet. In some of the new notes I have been making the timeline it, well to put it bluntly, looks like I broke it and tried to glue the pieces back together.**

 **It's a work in progress haha.**

 **Until next time, I hope you liked the chapter.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Well here we are back with Chapter 7 of Trust By My Side.**

 **Quick update. I do not have internet anymore so I was answering reviews on the mobile app... Long story short. It didn't work. All of the messages I had sent did not go through so I am just going to say thank you for all of the reviews and feedback and sorry again for not PMing anyone back this time around. I know not to trust the app anymore.**

 **If anyone thought I stopped at an odd spot at the end of Chapter 6, you are right.**

 **I realized I had just passed 10k words for that chapter and stopped rather abruptly. I also wanted to try and think of how much of the academy I should be fast forwarding through the academy.**

 **I also got a review about the chapter being too long. Yes it was really long. I set a goal to get through the first day of academy and didn't cut the chapter until I finished it.**

 **Most chapters I aim for around 5k words give or take. Just depends on how well I can stop at the 5k mark.**

 **I also saw a small oversight I made last chapter. In chapter 3, Naruto had met Jiraya and knew he was a fuin-jutsu master. I made it sound like he never knew that reading up on him in the last chapter. He had heard Jiraya say fuin-jutsu just did not really understand it at the time. Small things but a little odd in my head.**

 **To clarify the purpose of these notes is to give people that are interested in my thought process making the story and not just the story itself. If there is something crucial to the story, it will be the first thing on these notes. If not it is fine to skip over them.**

 **I personally find it harder to read stories that don't have notes on them. Just me personally.**

 **Well enough of that, these intro notes are always too long so let's just get started.**

 **Here is Chapter 7 of Trust By My Side**

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

 **I do not own Naruto**

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Naruto and Tenten had no idea where they should start.

When they had gotten their first kunai it had been at a second hand store.

Now everything was brand new and looked in excellent quality.

As they were running around looking at all of the weapons, the shop owner made it out into the front and yelled at them.

"Kids, this is no place to be running around. If you are from the academy show me your permits or get the hell out." His voice boomed out at them.

They both handed him their permits and after he handed them back sighing they went back to looking.

Old man Higurashi was seeing the excitement in their eyes and was making him feel even older than he should be so he decided to try for an easy way out.

"Do you two just want a basic academy starter kit? I made up a few since it was the first day." Higurashi asked, hoping to hurry them out of the store.

"Actually we were hoping to get something a little nicer than training junk. We might as well just go with basic weights I guess." Naruto said, thinking on it a little bit.

"Gaki, even the training kunai are as sturdy as the rest of them." Higurashi snapped back.

"But are they dulled?" Tenten asked, wanting to take her own shot at the old man.

"Of course, you are still kids, don't need you losing a finger before you start now do ya?" Higurashi said back.

"Well then how are we going to learn to sharpen and take care of dulled kunai. Seems counter productive to me." Tenten threw back at him.

Higurashi just started to laugh. "Girl, you got spunk. I like that in a kid these days. I'll tell ya what, how about a friendly wager. I'll sell you a set of high quality kunai, I'll also throw in a repair kit for free. After six months, bring them back. If they are still in fine condition you win. If they look like hell, I'll charge you double what the kit was worth, how about it?" Higurashi asked with a smirk.

It was a pretty safe bet in his book. The kit was relatively cheap and most academy students had to come and replace at least a few within the first two months.

"Just getting a free kit seems like a lame bet. How about if I win, you write up a ten percent off coupon for the first real weapon I buy." Tenten countered.

Higurashi just laughed some more. "I like ya girl, you got yourself a deal." He said as he shook Tenten's hand.

Higurashi went to the back for a second and came back with a set of ten brand new kunai.

"These are built for shinobi going on long term missions. They are a bit tougher and if retrieved, can be sharpened again much longer than normal. For you, only 1,500 ryo." He said with a smirk.

If he remembered correctly, the academy gave each student 2,500 ryo at the start of the year for kunai, shuriken, weights and a wooden sword if they wanted. They got an additional 2,500 for gear every six months afterwards.

The six month gap was to make sure they weren't just spending it on random junk and actually what they needed first.

Tenten grabbed a pouch of shuriken and a set of weights and set them on the counter as well. She asked Naruto to get her a wooden tanto for her since his kunai would be cheaper. He said yes and not to worry about it.

She went even with her allowance and grabbed everything before looking around some more while Naruto grabbed his gear.

He grabbed a standard issue set of kunai and shuriken with the weights and two wooden tantos, one for each of them since Tenten couldn't afford one. Once he paid he went over to where Tenten was standing.

Tenten was looking at a pair of swords that she just couldn't describe.

They were identical swords, they had a were much thicker than most swords she had seen. The guard was also rather unique. One side of the guard was curved up much like a sai and the other was curved all the way down the hilt covering the hands much like a saber.

They almost looked like short machete to Naruto, but they were rather cool.

Tenten brought them up to the counter to ask about them and just got a chuckle out of Higurashi.

"My girl, you have some exotic tastes. You will never find another set of those anywhere else. I saw ones much like this when I went on a trip to the Land of Iron a few years back. All of the best blacksmiths from around the world came to that event." He said before scratching his chin.

"I believe the man that had made those were from further east if memory serves. Way out there. He said they were used as extensions of their martial arts from where he was from. They were usually built for individuals but I just copied the kind I had seen." Higurashi went on like reliving the past.

"The only reason I have yet to be able to sell them is they are more focused on disabling someone not killing. The tip is too wide to stab and it is too short to slice. It is far more balanced in terms of offence and defense than most things in here. Most shinobi just want the killing power after all." Higurashi sighed.

"They sound like they would be a great weapon if a person were ever caught in a prolonged fight." Tenten said admiring the weapons.

"That they are, I would love to sell them to ya girl, but you obviously haven't checked the tag on them." He had said with another chuckle.

Tenten flipped the tag over and almost dropped them. "5,000 ryo? Why are they that much?" Tenten asked.

"Well 5,000 each, because they are made completely different than katanas or anything else that's common in fire country. Not to mention those are the only two I have ever seen in the elemental nations as a whole before. They should really be in the back but I like to talk about them from time to time." Higurashi replied.

Tenten sighed. She really liked them and they sounded like the perfect backup weapon if she even had to get in close to someone.

Nothing she could do about it so she set them back on the shelf and grabbed all of her new gear.

She motioned to Naruto that she was heading out and he waved to the kind enough old man as he left.

'That girl, I can tell she is going to go far. First day of the academy and she is already looking at more than just a basic set of gear. He would love to see what she became later in life. Hopefully she didn't turn into a fan girl somewhere down the line.' Higurashi thought before hearing a commotion at the door.

"I told you Ino-pig. Sasuke-kun likes me more." Higurashi could hear from outside the shop. 'Damn fan-girls, on day one too.' Higurashi lamented. Before he could close the shop down they had already made it inside. He could feel his hair getting even more gray with every second.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Naruto and Tenten had walked to a nearby park and stopped for a bit to put on their new weights.

They decided that instead of going home first, they would jog a bit to get used to feeling the weights on their limbs.

They were metal rods with a small seal on the outside of them that adjusted the weight. Since they didn't know that they just had them on the base weight that was five pounds each.

They could certainly tell the difference, but they were in pretty decent shape so it didn't slow them down too much.

They decided after a quick loop through some of the favorite spots that they should get home and practice with their new kunai.

They were a little heavier in Tenten's case and a little lighter to Naruto.

After a few hours they were starting to get hungry and decided to call it a night.

The sun was still but they still needed to maintain their kunai and cook something for dinner.

Tenten took care of dinner of course while Naruto took care of his kunai. He noticed that it was very easy since there was no real damage to them already.

Looking at his old kunai, they were chipped and bent here and there and he remembered taking much longer to try and keep them useable.

They both decided to keep their old kunai and shuriken instead of getting rid of them.

The decision was based off the idea that if they ever needed them, they would have them. Naruto had read a book about trap making before and would rather use older kunai for those instead of new ones.

It didn't help they were both hoarders to an extent. Not having anything as an orphan really motivated some to keep things.

Most shinobi had a set of kunai and shuriken that they trained with and a set for missions.

There were always times when someone would be called away from the training grounds for a mission and left behind a few here and there.

They had taken to running to a different training ground every day and collecting what was left behind and adding it to their stash.

It was after a few months of cleaning out the training fields when they learned that genin teams were sent to gather the loose kunai and shuriken from time to time. Mostly blacksmiths looking for some extra scrap hiring them.

The civilian council had tried to arrest the kids for theft of shinobi belongings, a severe offence, but the shinobi side voted it down.

They had a healthy supply in their closet and had maintained each and every one of them.

Tenten especially saw it as a way to learn how to better take care of them and that was all the motivation Naruto needed.

They had been talking about it again looking at their new gear and thought they might try to sell some of their scrap if they could get a good price.

After dinner, they put all of that aside and decided to meditate like Iruka-sensei had told them to and try to feel their chakra.

Inu had gotten them to learn a bit of meditation a few months back to try to get them to be more aware of their surroundings.

He just had them meditate in the middle of a training ground and would sneak up on them. If they heard him, they would try to point at him with their eyes still closed.

It was a basic intro to meditation but it gave them a concept to work with.

They had set a quiet alarm for an hour so they would get pulled out of their meditation smoothly after an hour and they would talk about how it went then go again.

Tenten was the first to feel her chakra. She was rather smart and had tried to focus as much as she could when the doctor was unlocking it for her.

She had felt it flowing through her at the time and remembered the feeling to an extent.

Naruto however was having more trouble. It wasn't that he couldn't feel his chakra, he just couldn't understand where his chakra stopped and he began.

Most people could feel thin strips of chakra running in a similar way to blood.

Naruto was feeling something akin to a waterfall through his entire body. It confused him so he just decided to focus more and more.

He was focusing as hard as he could on his chakra for a few moments when he thought he heard a whisper. It was like a soft voice, lost in the wind.

When he finally identified it as a voice, he started to feel light headed and the next thing he knew he felt like he was falling.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Naruto got to his feet a few moments later and he recognized he was in his mindscape outside the Kyuubi's door.

He quietly walked in and saw it was the same as before. Without the water of course.

As he entered, he saw the Kyuubi eyeing him as he sat down in the chair that he had made last time her was here.

"Why is it that you come here once every few years, boy. I had tried to get your attention for the last few months and you never replied to my call. Why is it that now you can finally hear me." The Kyuubi snorted at him.

"Well, I was trying to feel my chakra and I heard someone, next thing I knew I was here." Naruto said calmly.

"Maybe it was with your chakra flowing far more freely now, the chakra from me made it so I could contact you. Interesting. This seal is far more interesting than the last one I was stuck in." The Kyuubi said, with a rather curious tone to his voice.

"Last one?" Naruto asked.

"Ah yes, the last one I was stuck in was designed to just hold me in one place and that was it. A strong seal, just rather annoying." The Kyuubi replied.

"Why was it annoying?" Naruto asked, rather interested that he was talking to the Kyuubi almost casually.

"Ha, I suppose this is rather casual huh. Regardless, the last seal just chained me to the floor and nothing more. This one, I can move a bit and can see outside from time to time." The Kyuubi said as if it wasn't important.

"How can you see outside?" Naruto asked.

"Times when you are going through intense emotions or are in life or death situations mostly. While you were focusing on your chakra I was able to get a general feel for the world, at least a little bit." The Kyuubi explained.

"What is up with my chakra anyway. I was told it should feel like blood flowing through my system, not a freaking waterfall." Naruto once again asked.

"You have a lot of it. What did you expect a little trickle. You have me in your gut, of course you would have a lot more chakra than your average kid." The Kyuubi said in a rather, annoyed, tone.

"Sorry, I guess I just didn't think about that one. Do you like this seal more than your last one?" Naruto suddenly asked.

The Kyuubi honestly didn't know. His previous container had him chained to the ground but her life had been rather interesting.

"I suppose. It is rather nice being able to move around." The Kyuubi said with a wave of his tails.

Naruto thought about it for a minute. The Kyuubi didn't ask to be thrown into a cage. He had also saved his life before.

While thinking on this, he was watching the floor.

He realized it used to be covered in water until he fixed it. Naruto had the idea to try and manipulate his mindscape again and give the Kyuubi more room.

The Kyuubi was listening to his thoughts and almost said something but decided against it.

After a moment of concentration, the room the Kyuubi was in got a bit bigger. Nothing drastic, but enough for the Kyuubi to fully stand up and turn in a full circle.

Naruto focused a bit more and the ground started to grow grass.

After Naruto was done, he asked if he like the seal better.

The Kyuubi just chuckled. "Boy, you are funny. Not once did you think of appeasing me out of fear. It was all just genuine kindness. Can't say I have ever seen a jailer do that before."

"Well, your stuck in here so since I can make it nicer, I might as well right?" Naruto said.

"Sure, boy, you have something that seems to be rather rare in this day and age. Respect. I can accept that. Come by from time to time, I rather enjoy these chats. Far funnier than Kushina ever was." The Kyuubi said with a chuckle.

Naruto was confused, the Kyuubi liked talking to him. Also why did it sound like he was being dismissed at that time. Also, who was Kushina?

It was a few seconds later that Naruto found himself being shaken violently by Tenten.

"What's going on, what happened?" Naruto asked franticly, trying to get Tenten off of him.

"You meditated too hard idiot." Tenten yelled at him.

"Huh? How do you meditate too hard?" Naruto asked, even more confused that before.

"The alarm went off a few minutes ago and I had been trying to wake you up since. Why the hell were you that deep in meditation?" Tenten asked, still yelling at him.

Naruto just told her that the fox wanted to talk to him.

Tenten nodded and asked how that went.

"Well, the Kyuubi seems fair enough. He doesn't seem like death incarnate like everyone seems to think. I got the feeling that he accepted that he was stuck in me and just decided to deal with it." Naruto said with a shrug.

He really couldn't figure the Kyuubi out at all. Everyone seemed to think he was a mindless killing machine. Naruto however felt like it was far more intelligent than that and was just annoyed at being trapped.

Naruto also remembered that name, Kushina. He decided that if he was going to be stuck with the fox for life, he might as well get to know as much about him as he could. He would have to start with his previous jailer.

The hokage might know so he planned a visit after school tomorrow.

Until then, he decided he would think on his starting grades and try and think of a better way to train every day to round himself out a bit more.

He discussed it with Tenten and she agreed. They had both planned on being in the top 5% of every subject for their entire time in the academy. They refused to neglect any of their studies and would be the best.

After the night started to wind down a bit more, they decided to get some sleep so they could train a little before class started.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Naruto had calmed down a bit after the first day of the academy so their routine was back in order.

Tenten had woken up first and gotten the first shower done before Naruto got all of the way out of bed.

She headed to the kitchen and made a quick eggs, bacon and toast breakfast before she finished getting dressed. Fixing her hair and getting her kunai holster and pouches on.

It made the morning go a little faster if she hurried out of the bathroom and they decided last night that every minute would do them good.

Tenten had eaten already so while Naruto had been eating she had put up the futon and got started on packing them quick lunches.

They had gotten that morning routine down to around thirty minutes and thought it was pretty good for now.

Once breakfast was done and they got all of their supplies gathered they saw they still had almost an hour and a half before they needed to be at the academy.

They decided to do some light sparring for a bit before they would take the long way to the academy to get a bit better morning run in.

They still arrived about twenty minutes early and decided to just relax with their friends that were waiting for them.

The day at the academy started off rather boring. They got a lecture on how shinobi acted and how that lead to the leaf being one of the strongest villages.

They were told about how a shinobi should treat their comrades as family if they were to ever trust each other with their lives.

Naruto and Tenten both already considered each other as close as family would be. They didn't really have any other family so it was as close as they could get.

As he was explaining this, Iruka was watching everyone.

He saw a lot of the girls glance at Sasuke while he was saying this. They did not realize this but it was secretly a test to see if any had bonds already. Many of the girls utterly failed but he didn't need to say anything about it. It was for future knowledge only.

He could tell that the only ones to really grasp it were Naruto, Tenten, Ino, Shikamaru and Choji. Those five were all sitting together and they all glanced at each other at some point in the lecture.

This told Iruka that all five of them already trusted each other and the feeling was mutual all across the board.

He would set them together on any group projects he could find and hopefully, at the end of their education, two of them could handle separation.

Genin cells were only three members after all.

He would have to force a few people to work together as well from what he saw.

Shino had appeared to not glance at anyone and Sasuke had been glaring at him since he brought on the subject of teamwork.

Hinata also seemed far to shy and timid when he talked about it. Then there were almost every other female in the class.

Iruka sighed inwardly, 'I might have several very promising students, however, I have far to many fan-girls in this class.'

He continued with the lectures, going from the basis of teamwork on to proper attitude and stride for a shinobi of the leaf.

They were meant to put the civilians at ease when they saw them on the streets and not put fear into them. He didn't want some stupid kid to try and push around a civilian with his shinobi training again.

Iruka grimaced at the thought. That kid thought he was better than other teens and ended up killing another teen in a fight. Shinobi are trained to kill and civilians just do not fight with the same vigor.

They had finally made it through the first few hours in the classroom and it was time for lunch.

Iruka would look in on the students as they ate on the grounds. He would get a better idea what they thought of other students by their interactions during lunch.

If they were thought to be unfit for service, they would be cut from the program. On average, about seventy percent would be cut by the end of the six years. They just could not graduate kids that would be an immediate hazard to themselves and their peers.

Iruka had been walking through the kids as they ate and had been disgusted by most of them.

Sasuke had at least ten girls practically throwing themselves at him and he had been ignoring them.

The girls were not really taking their education seriously and the Uchiha had been completely disregarding fellow students.

He just sighed and went to the next conversation.

Hinata had been sitting with Shino. Iruka quirked an eyebrow at that as they both seemed to be the most shy people in the class.

As he listened in on them he figured out why they were talking.

During their spar, Hinata had used her Byakugan and saw the bugs inside of Shino. He was explaining that was how his clan operated and she seemed to be interested in the bugs.

They were both a little awkward talking to each other but he chalked it up to both being naturally lonely. He decided to keep tabs on them and possibly get them to spar together more often than the other kids.

Iruka's real surprise was when he finally got to Naruto and his friends.

Naruto was leaning against a wall just out of vision range of Hinata and Shino, listening to their conversation. Ino was practically hanging off of him wanting to know what they were talking about. Tenten was also rather close to Naruto in that regard. Shikamaru was just lying down, listening to what Naruto was saying and Choji was keeping notes on Ino's request.

"Guys, keep it down I can't hear them with you all making so much noise." Naruto said glaring at Ino.

Ino got a little quieter but didn't back off of him.

"Ok, Hinata is asking Shino about one of his bugs. He said it was a queen kikaichu beetle and was one of the most important ones. Hinata sounds like she giggled a bit at that. She wants to hold the beetle, I repeat, she wants to hold the beetle." Naruto said like he was talking over a radio.

"Did you get that Choji, she wants to hold the beetle" Ino said back to him.

"Got it, she wants to hold the beetle, got it down." Choji replied with a nod.

"What do you make of it Shikamaru?" Tenten asked the lazy genius.

"Well Shino is an Aburame so I think they keep the bugs inside of him. That must be why Hinata approached him. They sparred yesterday and her eyes can see through walls so she probably saw them. They are rather quiet so I assume they are both rather shy. Shino more because people keep their distance from his clan because of the bugs and Hinata because she is just timid." Shikamaru said without even bothering to open his eyes.

"Slow down Shika, I didn't get all of that down." Choji complained.

"Guys, Shino said he shares a mind with his bugs." Naruto called back to Choji.

"Got it, but don't you think that's enough, we still need to eat after all." Choji said.

"Yeah, I think we got enough info. So talk about it again after school?" Naruto asked everyone.

Everyone nodded so they dug into their lunches.

Iruka wasn't exactly sure what they were talking about. They were spying on Shino and Hinata, that was a give in. Naruto seemed to be the only one to hear them so his hearing must be pretty advanced.

They decided to talk about it later and not here so I don't think it is too terribly important. I'll just keep an eye on them Iruka decided before heading back to eat his own lunch.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Everyone had finished their lunches and were making their way back into the class.

A few kids gave Iruka an odd glance when they noticed that they all had a leaf on their desk.

After everyone was seated for a while someone finally asked what the leaf was about.

"I am glad you asked. Yesterday, you all had your chakra unlocked and thus your chakra capacity was increased by that. Hopefully you all meditated on that last night because today we are going to start on how to control chakra." Iruka said with a grin.

"Each of you will take a leaf and place it to your forehead like so." Iruka started before lifting up his headband and placing the leaf to his forehead.

"Then, you will focus your chakra to the point where the leaf touches your forehead and use it to make the leaf stick like this." He said as he dropped his hand showing the leaf sticking by itself.

A few of the civilian kids gasped because they had never seen anything like this but most just tried it themselves. All failed.

Naruto had stopped to think about it for a minute before trying himself. As soon as he let go of the leaf he tried to focus chakra to it but instead of sticking, he blew a hole in it.

Iruka sighed, too much chakra. "Naruto, you are using far too much chakra, try to use just a little bit." Iruka said before handing him another leaf.

Naruto nodded and tried to tone it back as far as he could. This time it just blew away a few rows down from where he was at.

"Less chakra." Iruka said once again before dropping a dozen leaves on his desk and walking away.

Naruto decided to keep his hand in front of his head so they wouldn't fly away at least but was still having problems.

It was an hour later when most of the clan kids had gotten it and a few civilians were starting to get it.

Naruto was still stuck shooting them off his head.

He knew he was using too much chakra but he just couldn't push any less out.

Iruka finally made his way back to him after an hour to try and help him a bit more.

"Naruto, the spot on your forehead is known as the third eye. It is the easiest place to place chakra. Try doing the exercise on your wrist. Chakra is a bit more difficult to channel there and might get you to stop blowing them away until you practice more." Iruka said with a nod.

Naruto thanked him and tried it that way.

It took him a few minutes to lead his chakra to his wrist but after a bit he was ready.

He channeled some chakra, slowly as he could, to his wrist and he could feel it pooling up under the leaf. He let go and it just dropped.

Naruto blinked. It didn't stick, but it also didn't get blown away.

He tried again and got the same result.

He tried it for another twenty minutes and he saw there were only a few more people that couldn't do it.

Iruka came by one more time and drew a small spiral on his wrist.

"Focus on nothing but the spiral and see if it works now. If it does then it was just your concentration and that is an easy fix." Iruka said before going to try the same with the other kids.

Naruto stared at the spiral for a full minute before he placed another leaf on it. When he let go, it stuck for just a second before falling.

Naruto almost yelled out until he realized he was in class.

He tried again and again, each time it stuck just a little longer.

It was after another ten minutes that he could stick it for almost thirty seconds before it dropped.

He decided to try sticking it to his forehead again and this time it stuck for a few seconds before it fell.

Naruto had an idea and he poked himself in the forehead with his fingernail leaving a small mark.

He could feel it and focused on that one spot. This time he could keep it stuck for twice and long and Iruka said it was fine for now.

Iruka saw that everyone at least understood it enough to practice it on their own time so he went on an hour long lecture about chakra and what it was used for.

It was a very basic lecture, mostly how it was used to fuel jutsu and strengthen the body.

Iruka looked at the clock and saw that there was only an hour left before it would be time to send the kids home.

He decided to just pull everyone outside for some target practice and exercise.

Once everyone was set he pulled Tenten aside and asked her just how good she was with kunai.

She told him that she could have aced the test easy but then she would have been abandoning her comrades.

Iruka nodded, thinking as much. He decided that while most people were at the ranges she would work on her own physical conditioning while he thought of a bit different routine for her.

She nodded before asking him if he could help her increase he weights.

Iruka quirked his head before telling her that she shouldn't even have the weights on yet.

Tenten just explained that her and Naruto already did plenty of working out before the academy and five pounds on their arms and legs just weren't enough.

Iruka sighed and called Naruto over so he could bump up their weights.

When they put them back on, they both jumped up and down a few times and shook their limbs to get a feel for them.

Naruto thanked Iruka and headed back to the range.

Iruka watched him for a moment and saw that his accuracy was not getting lower like he thought it might with the extra weight on his arms.

He looked back to Tenten and saw her going through some of the basic academy forms, slowly getting faster and faster as she got used to the weights.

'Both of them do not seem too affected by the extra five pounds. Not to mention they were both already looking like they were perfectly used to the new weight.' Iruka thought.

He decided to not press it and let them work as hard as they could.

It was a full minute later that he realized that Tenten was going through the academy form. They hadn't learned it yet in class.

"Tenten, who taught you the academy form already?" Iruka asked.

"Ah, Itachi did sensei." She replied.

Dozens of things sounded wrong with that.

From what Iruka remembered, Itachi was the heir of the Uchiha clan and was a police captain that would be moving up to anbu before too long.

Why was he teaching an orphan tai-jutsu. Not to mention that Uchiha had their own style, Itachi would never have used it.

He dropped it again. If his students got help from outside the academy, he wasn't going to complain.

As he watched her, he realized her form was almost at the point where she could move up to intermediate style soon.

'Naruto and Tenten both seem to be completely full of surprises. I better not let my guard down around them any time soon.' Iruka thought before calling the class to him.

"All right class, I am happy to say that it seems everyone has their equipment. Everyone should now put on their weights and get used to the feeling of them over the weekend. For your first two years, you will have Saturday and Sunday off to rest. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday will be physical training until the end of last hour of the day where we will be inside. Tuesday and Thursday will be the opposite. I will see you all on Monday and make sure to have your weights on. Class dismissed." Iruka said.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

 **Well I got this chapter out pretty quick. I wanted to set kind of the pace of the academy out in this chapter and I think I got the main idea out.**

 **To explain that last paragraph a bit more. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday will be morning to afternoon physical exercise. Then lunch. A bit of target practice and spars. Then they would go back inside for a short lesson.**

 **Tuesday and Thursday will be morning to afternoon lectures. Lunch. Then a bit more of a lecture and the last hour being outside. This last hour will mostly be focused on either target practice or chakra control.**

 **This will only be for the first two years. After that, the day to day will change and I will explain that when the time comes.**

 **I am actually shocked this chapter only spanned one day. I thought I got further than that.**

 **I will be skipping a bit more after the weekend in the story so don't think I am going to go day by day like this for the rest of the story.**

 **Anyway, hope you liked it. Let me know if you see anything stupid I did and I will be sure to fix it.**

 **Thanks again for reading and I hope you liked it.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Well here we are at chapter 8.**

 **I have been getting complaints about too long author notes so I am just going to more or less keep them down to nothing.**

 **I personally do not like it but this story is for everyone and not me.**

 **We also passed 100 favorites as I got about half-way through this chapter and am excited. Thank you all for the support it means the world to me.**

 **Well there are the notes for the start of this one.**

 **Lets just get to Chapter 8 of Trust By My Side.**

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Tenten was wanting to know what Naruto was wanting to do for the weekend.

He thought about it and decided they should just do as they always did and train.

Naruto stopped as they walked out of the academy and remember he was wanting to talk to the hokage.

Tenten understood and told him that she would meet him at home.

Naruto walked over to the hokage's office and checked in. He would have a short wait but it wasn't too bad.

When he finally got to talk to the hokage things started off pleasant enough.

They talked about how his first day went earlier and what his starting grades were.

Hiruzen was rather pleased with how his starting scores were.

It was shortly after that Naruto dropped the bomb.

"Jiji, do you know who Kushina was?" Naruto asked.

Hiruzen froze for a moment. Naruto was asking about Kushina. Who would have told him.

After a few more moments he realized that Naruto had only called her Kushina and not Kushina Uzumaki, or even mother.

"Who told you about Kushina, Naruto-kun?" Hiruzen asked evenly.

Naruto realized he walked himself into a corner but curiosity is a weakness of his.

"Uhh, well." Naruto said while pointing to his stomach.

"Ah, is there anything to worry about?" Hiruzen asked, hoping to get off the subject.

"No, we were just talking and he mentioned his previous jailer, Kushina. I was hoping to find out more about the fox." Naruto replied.

Hiruzen was torn. Naruto was too young to know everything. He knew if he told him about his mother, he would want to learn about his father.

He had planned on telling him after he graduated and giving him his mothers estate. Hiruzen had to admit that Naruto was far more mature than he had been.

Hiruzen decided to just balance on the tight rope and hope he didn't have to say too much.

"Well, Kushina was indeed the previous jinchuriki of the Kyuubi. She was selected because she had a strong life force. She became a strong shinobi and kept everyone safe by bearing the seal." Hiruzen said trying to make an effort to keep the details limited.

"What was she like?" Naruto asked.

"Well she had a fiery temper and a strong devotion to those close to her. She was one of the best shinobi I had at the time." He replied.

"Did, did people call her mean things?" Naruto asked, feeling rather depressed remember all of the names and glares he had gotten.

"No, when the fox was sealed into her, it was done in complete secrecy. No one was told when it happened and no one that knew was permitted to talk about it." Hiruzen said with a bit of shame in his tone.

Minato had wanted everyone to view Naruto as a hero and everyone failed.

Naruto sat rather quiet for a moment. He seemed to be staring at nothing for a few seconds.

Naruto finally spoke up. "The fox wants to know why you aren't telling me everything."

Hiruzen hung his head. He was screwed and he knew it. If he did not tell Naruto about Kushina, then the fox would.

"The fox said he is glad you understand, whatever that means." Naruto said, still hanging his head.

'Well the fox has me over a barrel and the fox was smart enough to realize it.' Hiruzen lamented.

"All right. Naruto, what I am about to tell you, I was not going to tell you until after you graduated." Hiruzen finally said.

"The hope was that you would be a bit more mature and understanding." Hiruzen said with a sigh.

Naruto had picked his head up to look at the man who was like a grandfather too him at this point.

"Kushina, was not just the previous jinchuriki of the nine tailed fox. She was also the heir to a clan. The Uzumaki clan to be precise. She was also, your mother." He said before going quiet.

Naruto's world started to crash around him. He was just told who his mother was and he couldn't comprehend how to react.

He wanted to scream, he wanted to shout, he also wanted to hide, to run.

Never knowing who his mother was, it was a hard pill to take every day but it got easier as he aged. It wasn't that he didn't care. He did, he just did not let it eat away at him.

Naruto could feel nothing but sadness and sorrow. He heard how the hokage had talked of her in the past tense. He knew his parents had been dead. Being dead and nameless was far easier to handle.

Many orphans had lost their last names and he had never once asked why he kept his. He was an heir to a clan. He didn't understand at the moment but he was realizing that the hokage would have known all along.

She had also been stuck with the Kyuubi as well. It was the cause of most of his misery and knowing that his own mother had it sealed in her as well angered him.

Anger started to build up in stomach and he was wanting to hurt the man across from him.

The Kyuubi was practically seeing through Naruto's eyes at this point. With so much anger in Naruto's head, he could feel everything going on.

He could feel the hokage ripping his heart apart at seeing Naruto so upset. He could also feel the rage boiling Naruto's blood.

He sighed, he would have to bail the boy out if he attacked his leader. He decided to just stop the problem before it began and shoved as much chakra out of the seal as he could and pull it back.

It gave Naruto an adrenaline rush that only lasted a second. The quick flux of demonic chakra overloaded his system and knocked him out.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Inside Naruto's mindscape, he awoke a few moments later with the Kyuubi staring at him.

"Why did you knock me out you stupid fox." Naruto yelled at the Kyuubi.

"If I had not knocked you out, you would have attacked your hokage and been put in a cage of your own." The Kyuubi said back in an annoyed tone.

"I didn't ask you to stop me. He has been lying to me my entire life. How could he do that to me?" Naruto asked out loud.

"Maybe it was so you wouldn't through a tantrum like this, boy. I had thought you were mature, I was wrong apparently." The Kyuubi said with his tails waving dangerously behind him.

Naruto was about to reply before the Kyuubi interrupted him.

"With how upset you were I could have completely overshadowed you and taken your body as my own. If I thought you body was strong enough to survive escaping from this village I might have." The Kyuubi yelled down at him.

"Calm the hell down and use that worthless, hunk of meat you call a brain and figure it out. You know why he didn't tell you, so you wouldn't act exactly like this." The Kyuubi said again with force before lying back down.

Naruto managed to calm down a little but was still furious. He paced back and forth for a few minutes before he finally managed to calm down enough to not just attack the hokage on sight.

He had wanted to cry but he just could not keep his anger in check. Once Naruto had finally blew off enough steam, he tried to get out of the mindscape but didn't know how.

He wasn't about to ask the fox so he just used the other method he had ever done. He walked over one of the locked doors in his mindscape and tried to open it. The shock to his system when it zapped him and woke him up.

'Stupid boy, he needs to learn how to control his emotions or I will have to keep doing this crap when he gets upset.' The Kyuubi thought before going to sleep.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Naruto woke back up on the couch in the Hokage's office.

Hiruzen had saw him sit up and tried to call out to him.

Naruto just got up and walked out the door. He didn't look back and just started walking.

He didn't really pay attention to where he was walking just that he was not going to stop any time soon.

After a few hours he saw it was getting dark. He saw he was close to home and just went inside. Tenten was waiting for him but he just couldn't bring himself to say anything.

He just walked straight to the shower and got in.

Tenten was concerned. He hadn't said hello, she didn't even think he saw her there.

Something was wrong but if Naruto was going to talk about it, he would have said something.

She was preparing dinner when he got home and had finished twenty minutes later. Naruto was still in the shower and that concerned her. He always took about five minutes showers.

She walked to the door, knocked, and let him know dinner was ready. Tenten did not hear him say anything to acknowledge her and she could tell the water was still running.

She opened the door and stepping in trying to tell him dinner was ready again. She still did not get a reply.

As she got closer to the curtain she could hear him quietly crying. She peeked around the curtain and could see him standing under the water and could definitely tell he was crying.

"Naruto, what's wrong?" Tenten asked softly as she reached for his shoulder.

When she grabbed his shoulder, she could tell the water was freezing. She quickly turned the heat up more before trying to get him to talk to her.

He completely ignored her every word and did not react to her grabbing his shoulder.

Tenten had enough by now and decided to try the one true fire method to get his attention.

"Naruto, if you don't hurry, the ramen is going to burn." Tenten said urgently.

Naruto did not flinch or say anything.

Tenten was down right terrified now. Whatever got Naruto like this was serious. She started to panic and tried to figure out what to do.

She decided that Naruto needed to understand that she was there for him no matter what and the only way she could think to do that was to either drag him out of the shower and hug him or to do it when he got out.

It had been almost half an hour and she was not about to make him wait any longer so she just stepped in and wrapped her arms around him.

She was standing behind him when he hugged him and immediately realized she should have turned the water off first. She dismissed the thought when Naruto started to shake a little in her arms.

She held him tighter and after a few seconds he broke down. He turned around and cried his heart out in her shoulder.

She held him as tight as she could and rubbed his back. Tenten knew that he would open up in time now. She was so scared when she could not get any reaction from him. He was completely shut out.

Now, with him crying on her arm, she knew that he would be able to confide in her when the time came. For now, he needed to get it out of his system.

They stood like that for another ten minutes before Naruto just didn't have any tears left to cry. He loosened his hug on Tenten and she let him go.

He looked at her for a moment then dropped his head again.

Tenten understood enough to realize he wasn't ready yet so she reached past him and turned off the shower and stepped out.

Her clothes were soaked all of the way through and she just didn't care at the moment. Naruto was the only thing on her mind.

She turned around and helped him out of the shower. She gave him a towel and helped him dry off.

Tenten lead him to the door and tried to get him to head toward the bedroom. She got him into underwear and a t-shirt and decided it was good enough. She laid out the futon and he collapsed into it.

She sighed and went to get out of her wet clothes. A large t-shirt and panties later she was ready enough for bed as well.

She had dried up the wet spots on the floor from where she had been while still wet and put dinner into the fridge.

Tenten had lost her appetite and didn't want to try to force Naruto to eat.

Naruto had fallen onto the bed and just stared at the wall in front of himself. He had used all of his anger in his mindscape and cried all of his tears in the shower and just felt empty.

Tenten had helped him at least continue through the motions of the day but he still felt a void.

The emotions going through his head were confusing and he didn't think he would be able to express them even if he could build up the willpower to talk.

He just stayed there for minutes, hours, he really wasn't sure.

It was only a few minutes later that he felt something pushing him and pulling a blanket over himself.

He knew what was happening, he just didn't understand what was causing it. He tried to understand and couldn't figure it out until he felt a pair of arms wrap around his chest.

He rolled over to see what was wrapping around him and saw Tenten there. Here eyes were puffy like she might cry soon. He didn't get it, why was she sad too.

Naruto put his arms around her. He felt better when she did it to him so maybe it would make her feel better too.

Tenten saw that Naruto was looking at her. His eyes just looked so lonely, she had never seen them like this.

Naruto did not seem to be looking at her at all and it scared her to death. She tried to look at him back but it just chilled her to the bone.

After a few seconds she couldn't take the empty stare anymore and shoved her face into his chest. She squeezed him harder and started to cry softly into him.

Tenten crying served to confuse Naruto even more. She had been happy earlier today, why was she crying.

After a few seconds of her crying, Naruto started to understand. She wasn't sad, she must be worried about him.

Naruto started to come back to his senses a bit and squeezed Tenten a little tighter.

Tenten shifted a bit when she realized he had moved again. She looked back at him and saw him try to smile a little.

It was forced, Tenten could tell, but it eased her mind a little. She managed to stop crying and held on to Naruto a little tighter.

They rested like that for a few minutes before Naruto finally managed to say sorry.

Tenten just pulled him a little closer and told him not to worry about it.

It was just a minute later that Tenten could feel Naruto completely relax. The soft snoring coming from him told her that he was finally asleep.

Tenten stayed awake for a few minutes more. She needed to figure out how to snap Naruto out of whatever funk he was in. She had no idea how though. She had the entire weekend and decided to just play it out slowly.

She would take care of him until then. With that conviction, she fell asleep.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Morning finally came and Tenten woke up first like always. She looked to Naruto and saw him resting peacefully. She could not bring herself to wake him up so she remained still a while longer.

When he finally roused out of his slumber, he saw Tenten smiling at him. He tried to smile back and rolled on to his back.

Tenten could see the pain still on his face and decided to not press the issue.

She got up and took a quick shower before reheating dinner from last night.

When she realized that Naruto was not going to be getting out of bed, she took a plate to him.

Naruto ate, reluctantly. When he was done, he just sat up against the wall and looked out the window.

Tenten had feared this would happen. It was going to be another day like this it seemed.

She was debating what to do in her head. Either leave him in bed and stay close or try and get him up and about.

In the end, she just dragged him out into the living room and sat him on the couch. In the living room, she could at least move around the house with him still in sight.

He fell over onto the couch shortly later and fell back asleep. Tenten just sighed and got a blanket to put over him.

She was still worried sick but he at least seemed to be sleeping. That was a start.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

With Naruto, as soon as he fell asleep he fell into his mindscape. He looked up and saw the Kyuubi staring down at him.

"Kushina was a strong willed woman and is most likely rolling in her grave at how you are acting. You seem to think you have nothing because you finally know who your mother is." The Kyuubi said.

"It's not fair, he should have told me sooner." Naruto whined.

"And what would you have done with the knowledge then?" The Kyuubi said back.

"I, I would have known." Naruto said back quieter.

"So. Would it have brought her back? Would anything have changed?" The Kyuubi roared back.

"No." Naruto whispered.

"Exactly. That old monkey was most likely waiting until you were mature enough to claim your inheritance. He could just give it to you now but that would bring the council in an uproar most likely." The Kyuubi said before pausing for a moment.

"You are friends with most of the clans however. They might just give it to you regardless. Talk to the old monkey and apologize for being such a bitch and see if you can get your inheritance. I would rather not have you mope around like this for the rest of the week." The Kyuubi said before turning away from Naruto.

Naruto only hear half of that. Mostly he heard 'inheritance' and tried to think of what he would have gotten.

The Uzumaki were a clan and his mom had been heir so there had to be something.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Naruto had woke up a few minutes later and sat up. He could hear Tenten sharpening a kunai and after his eyes adjusted he could see her right in front of him.

She looked at him curiously but didn't say anything.

He was still out of it but he needed answers. Getting dressed and heading toward the door, Tenten stopped him.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"Hokage." Naruto replied.

Tenten was a little happy to get an answer but last time he went to the hokage he came back devastated.

"Why are you going to see the hokage?" She asked back.

"Answers." Naruto said back.

"Do you want me to come too?" Tenten asked quietly.

Naruto looked at her and realized she would be worrying if he didn't take her along. He also needed to tell her at some point so might as well kill two birds with one stone.

He nodded and Tenten ran to the other room to throw on a pair of pants before meeting him back at the door. They walked slowly to the hokage's office.

Naruto seemed to walk slower and slower the closer they got. Tenten grabbed his hand and gave it a comforting squeeze when she thought he might turn around.

Naruto smiled a bit and kept on walking. They got inside the door and stopped in front of the receptionist and Tenten realized Naruto wasn't going to say anything so she did it for him.

"We needed to talk to the hokage. It's important." Tenten said.

The receptionist just sighed and checked the schedule. No one was in his office so he called up to him. He said to send them in and she did.

As they entered the hokage's office, Naruto glanced at Hiruzen and looked back at the ground and walked over to the couch.

Hiruzen put his paperwork aside and tried to get a read on the boy.

He was completely out of it, and Tenten seemed concerned for him. He knew that Naruto would take the news hard. He had just hoped that Naruto would be more mature when he told him.

"Tenten, did Naruto manage to tell you what was wrong yet?" Hiruzen asked.

"No, he has been like this since last night. Do you know why is he is like this?" Tenten asked back.

"Yes, he has learned some, hard, news." Hiruzen said solemnly.

"What news?" Tenten asked.

"Who his mother was." Hiruzen said back sadly.

Tenten gasped, Naruto flinched and Hiruzen's heart broke a little more.

"How long?" Naruto asked.

"The entire time." Hiruzen replied, knowing what he meant.

"Why did you hide it from me?" Naruto asked. "I did not think you were ready to learn of it yet. The council agreed that you would be told when you became a genin and receive your inheritance then." Hiruzen said back.

Tenten could understand that. Naruto would be considered an adult at that point and it would be the best time to do it. Telling him early would just make him want to rush through the academy and not be trained well enough, just to get it sooner.

She was still mad at the hokage for putting Naruto through this but could at least see the reasoning.

Naruto, however, could not. "Why didn't you just tell me and give me the inheritance later. I don't care about all of that. Knowing who my mother was, that would have been enough." Naruto said, shaking in anger.

Hiruzen sighed. He could have told him, he just didn't want to hang that in front of Naruto face. Once he knew, there was no way to just forget the inheritance, he would chase it and be less of a shinobi for it.

The hokage debated how to handle this now. He could give Naruto the home his mother left him and keep the money in the bank. He could also keep it the way it was and hope Naruto still applied himself. Seeing Naruto like this made up his mind for him.

"If you would like, we can go to her home." Hiruzen said carefully. If Naruto was excited, it might be worth it. If he didn't care now, he would take it as a signal to keep it under wraps until he graduated.

Naruto put his feet back on the floor and sighed. He wanted to see the house so badly. His mother had lived there and anything to do with his mother, he would cherish it dearly.

Naruto decided to just say yes before heading to the door. Hiruzen sighed again, he opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a small scroll.

It was the key to the house and the account information on the trust fund Kushina had left behind. He took it with him as they left and told the secretary he would be out for a while.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

They walked in silence as they headed toward the Uzumaki estate.

Hiruzen knew this would lead to who Naruto's father was. Kushina did not own any pictures of Minato as they wanted to keep it as secret as possible.

If anyone had ever managed to sneak into the house, their secret would have been ruined.

They both had all pictures together sealed in the hokage vault as it was the most secure place they could put them.

Hiruzen had access to the vault again, he just could not tell Naruto who his father was. If the Kyuubi was smart as well, he would also keep it a secret.

As they reached the compound gates, Naruto had started to perk up a little.

He was expecting a small house, not an entire compound. Inside the gates was one large home. It was huge to Naruto.

Around the house, there was enough land to hold at least half a dozen homes as well. The main house looked to be in good condition, the yard was overgrown and messy however.

Naruto's eyes started to water as he could imagine living here with a family.

He knew that he could not bring them back, he could understand death that much at least.

That would not be enough to ease the pain however. Naruto tried to be stronger and listen to the hokage as he explained the house and compound a little.

"The Uzumaki were a clan, feared for their mastery of fuin-jutsu. Konoha was once a great ally with them and many had traveled and lived here in this compound. The main house had been able to be salvaged from the Kyuubi attack, the other homes were not as lucky." Hiruzen said with a small bow of his head.

Hiruzen continued, "After the second shinobi war, a few Uzumaki clan members made their way here. The deep bonds between our villages had been cemented when the first hokage married the head of the clan at the time Mito Uzumaki."

"She had this compound built for her clan. Mito had been the first jinchuriki of the nine tailed fox. When she could feel her life force start to drain a new jinchuriki was needed. Kushina was chosen as she was best suited for the task." Hiruzen said looking a little bit worse as he went.

They finally made it to the front door and slowly went inside. Tenten was marveling at how nice the house was. It had a woman's touch but wasn't overly feminine. Something she could respect.

Naruto was finding it hard to stay sulking while in the house. It was his mother's home and he knew she would not want to see him like this.

Hiruzen decided to get the biggest question out of the way and went over to an end table and grabbed a picture of Kushina.

He handed the picture to Naruto and explained a bit more about her.

Naruto held the picture close like it could run away if he didn't hold it tight enough. He managed to finally cry again and even more of the pent up misery fell off of him.

Tenten put a hand on his shoulder and let him cry it out. She had been trying to think of how to comfort him but she was drawing a blank.

She would have been a wreck if she had suddenly learned who her parents were. Naruto would bounce back eventually, she would be there for him until he did regardless of how soon it was.

They got Naruto moving around again and began to look around some more. There were four bedrooms in total, one being the master bedroom with an attached bathroom. The other three had a separate bathroom.

A large study bad been built with a small library covering the walls. Hiruzen explained it was mostly for fuin-jutsu related studies.

There was also a small training room that had training dummies and enough room to go through their tai-jutsu katas. They also noticed several scrolls off to the side of the room and Hiruzen checked them and they were full or kunai, shuriken and senbon needles.

As they passed the kitchen into the living room, they went back outside threw the large, sliding glass doors. Out back, there was what used to be a small garden. They was also another fenced off area.

Behind the fence, there was a small, private, open air hot spring. Tenten was confused because it seemed to be clean and functional.

Hiruzen explained that Mito had first chosen this area because of the natural hot spring. She had loved the hot springs and had wanted one for herself.

Hiruzen had sent a genin team to clean up the house and the hot spring because that was the most important thing to get out of the way first.

He had offered to send a genin team to clean up the rest of the compound, but Naruto declined.

They had just about seen everything and Hiruzen decided he should take his leave. He gave Naruto the key and told him that the compound was his now as clan heir.

He also told Naruto not to explore the mask shrine at the far end of the compound. The masks were dangerous.

Naruto weakly nodded before Hiruzen made his exit.

Tenten was watching Naruto to get an idea on how he was holding up. He seemed to be a bit better off than before they came.

That was good in her book, at least he wasn't completely unresponsive.

The looked around a bit more before making their way inside and sitting down. She managed to get a few words out of him when asking what he wanted to do.

She knew he would want to live her, she couldn't blame him. She was worried he wouldn't let her come too.

Her fears were completely smashed when he finally said they should go and gather their stuff and move it all over to here. She smiled and gave him a hug before standing up to get started.

It would be a few hours later before they got most of their things. They focused on their clothes and consumables mostly. The house had a few beds and their old apartment was pre-furnished anyway so they couldn't take any of that anyway.

Getting the kitchen restocked had been their first concern. Hiruzen had explained with his inheritance he would be setting up a plan to draw a little of the money is his trust to be pulled out until he graduated.

Until that was set up they just had what food they had left from the apartment. While enough to get by on, it wasn't enough for such a large kitchen.

They were wore out after getting everything brought over so they just made a quick dinner before they started to wind down a bit more.

Tenten had tried to get Naruto to talk a bit more and was making slow progress. Short statements were about all she could get now but it was nice to hear him talk again, even if it was only a little.

It was becoming rather late so Tenten decided to lead him to bed. She managed to talk him into changing and getting into the bed. When she went to go to one of the other bedrooms and let him keep his mother's room to himself, he grabbed her sleeve.

He gave her a look that was pleading for her to not go and she nodded. She promised him she would be right back and she went to change into something to sleep in.

When she got back, Naruto managed a smile at her before she slipped into the bed next to him. He instantly threw his arms around her and squeezed her like she might try to run away.

She just held him back and smiled that he was coming around. It was good, tomorrow was the last day of the weekend and she didn't want to have to fight off Ino trying to figure out what got him like this.

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 **Well that's the chapter.**

 **I really need to stop writing chapters that only cover one day. I hope I can at least get a week or two out of the way next chapter.**

 **I am really bad at trying to post a recommendation at the end of the chapters so I just have a bunch in my bio if anyone is interested. If I get internet back anytime soon I will most likely go back through all of these and add them in. For now that idea is on hold.**

 **As always, thanks for reading and I will see you in the next chapter.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Ok well here comes the next chapter.**

 **I got one guess complaint saying that Naruto is a little bitch. Well, he is going through some tough stuff. He will bounce back.**

 **Haven't said it in a while, its in the description now but I have a kik group chat, #TrustByMySide , Drop by, say hi, talk about the story if you like it. Talk about other fanfiction. Doesn't matter to me, just good to see people stop by.**

 **I also realized something stupid I did. The hokage had originally planned on telling Naruto of his mother when he joined the academy. This completely contradicts to his actions in the last chapter. The shinobi council persuaded him to hold off on that until he graduated. He accepted.**

 **Let's get into Chapter 9 of Trust By My Side.**

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 **I do not own Naruto**

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Tenten slowly roused out of her sleep. Naruto was still cuddled against her, sleeping soundly.

She shifted a bit to get more comfortable and Naruto started to wake up. She decided to go ahead and get up and go get breakfast started.

Naruto followed shortly after and they ate together. He started to talk again and seemed like he was doing all right. He still seemed a bit out of it but it wasn't bad anymore.

They decided to work out as much as they could today and stretched out before a long run.

Since they had Iruka increase their weights an extra five pounds, they had yet to actually work out with them. They decided to run an extra mile to make up for not doing anything yesterday.

They finally made it home and had to take a break. The new weights really hit them pretty hard.

They didn't waste any time and jumped right back into their morning routine. Naruto was coming out of his shell more and more as they worked out and Tenten was relieved.

It was getting close to lunch time and they were sparing. Tenten was going with the basic academy style that she was very proficient with. Naruto was still working on his own style.

They have both been working on their style against each other for months.

Naruto's style was usually made up on the fly so Tenten's reflexes were very good. Tenten's style was just basic style but it was a style that worked overall. Her skill in it made up for by just how much she was training it.

With their weights on it was a great workout. On top of the running and basic exercises they were doing they were wore out by the time lunch came around.

They just had some leftovers before Naruto said he was going to the hot spring for a while. There was a small room before the fenced in hot spring to wash up in before you got in. This kept the spring cleaner and was proper etiquette.

He slowly got into the hot spring and put his towel on his head. Tenten had been to a hot spring before with Neko and she had told Naruto what to do.

Naruto sat in the water, letting the natural spring's heat sooth his sore muscles. He had never been to a hot spring and had to admit that this spring was amazing.

It would be a few minutes later that Naruto would hear a few splashes coming from the wash room behind him. After a bit he opened his eyes to see Tenten dropping in next to him.

She smiled at him and sank down into the water. They sat and discussed what they would be doing for the rest of the day before Tenten noticed something.

"This hot spring is amazing. It feels like I have been in here for hours but it has only been a few minutes." Tenten said with a confused look.

"It's a really got hot spring indeed." Naruto said, nearly falling asleep in the waters.

"Don't fall asleep idiot." Tenten told him, snapping Naruto awake.

Tenten had been thinking all day on how to talk to Naruto about their friends. They all would need to know and she knew it would be hard for Naruto to tell them.

Tomorrow, they would go back to the academy and face their friends. She needed to know that he was up for it.

"Naruto-kun, are you ready to get back to the academy tomorrow?" Tenten started out innocently enough.

"I guess." Naruto said a bit withdrawn still.

"We are going to have to tell the others. You realize this don't you. We can all help you through this." Tenten said sincerely.

Naruto took a deep breath and sighed. "I know Tenten-chan. I think I am good to go. Learning of my mother hit me like a brick, I think I got a handle on it. Just hard to fully bounce back."

"I understand Naruto-kun. I bet everyone will be happy for you. Maybe we should invite them to come over next weekend." Tenten said.

"That would be fun. We have enough room to have a sleep over." Naruto said, finally seeming a little happier.

"It would be nice to finally get everyone together like that. It could be more fun that just gathering at the park." Tenten said with a smile.

If anyone could help her get Naruto back to normal it would be their friends.

They stayed in the hot spring a little longer before getting out to get back to training. They sparred a bit more and practiced throwing their kunai and shuriken again.

When dinner came around they ate and started doing some reading. Naruto had went into the study/library and found a book on starting fuin-jutsu. It was pretty straight forward and was just an explanation on what to expect going forward in the art and how to train calligraphy.

Naruto decided when he saw the fuin-jutsu library in his mother's home that he would definitely study the art.

Tenten had found a book about the various martial arts used by the Uzumaki clan. She saw some glaring similarities between an Uzumaki style and Naruto's own style. She remembered Neko helping Naruto build his style and that raised a few questions in her mind.

She stopped thinking about it when she saw Naruto was a little happier.

With no more worries they finally headed to bed and got the rest they needed for their first full week at the academy.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Their first Monday in the academy was pretty rough day overall.

They got a good workout during their morning training. Iruka decided to tell everyone that they should still be training on the weekends and ran them through the wringer to get a feel on who had worked out on the weekend.

Everyone held themselves a certain way. He could tell subtle differences between those students who had been sore from training over the weekend and those who had done nothing. He would not be too harsh with his students but this was not the type of school to go easy on them.

Iruka would explain everything he was doing to his students and what they could gain from his training methods.

Most hated him, some had respect for him, even fewer truly understood why he was so hard on them. The clan heirs had a basic understanding on what the world was like outside the village. The civilian children however could not understand why Iruka was so harsh.

This was day three and Iruka had already come up with a basic list of the students he felt had potential. It was too early to really count people out of course. It also would not cause him to train anyone different. It was just more of a personal challenge for himself to enhance how well he could judge his students.

He mostly based his guesses off what everyone's work ethic seemed to be from the start. It wasn't a perfect way to gauge their potential, but in Iruka believed in it.

As a teacher, Iruka had the authority to remove kids from the program if he deemed it necessary. While the hokage was the official headmaster, Hiruzen had the utmost faith in his instructors and gave them all but absolute authority in the classroom.

He would never just strike a kid out of his class unless it was an extreme case.

Still, overall, he rather liked how this class looked. He had a heir from all of the major clans in the village in one class.

It had the most potential the academy had seen in many years.

Iruka had run them through the wringer all morning and he decided he would ease up a bit after everyone got back from lunch.

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Sitting together with Naruto and Tenten was Shikamaru, Ino and Choji. They were discussing their weekends until it finally got around to Naruto's turn.

"Well, Jiji told me about who my mother." Naruto said, barely getting the words all of the way out of his mouth before Ino jumped in.

"Was she a shinobi. Was she pretty. Ohh, what was she like, tell me tell me tell me." Ino was saying practically bouncing in place.

Tenten snapped at her to calm down and looked to see how Naruto was holding up. He seemed a bit downcast but gave them all the rundown of who she was and what that made him.

Everyone's responses were completely different.

Ino was just staring at Naruto in awe at learning he was the heir of a clan.

Choji dropped the bag of chips he was eating and looked at Tenten as if asking if it was true.

Shikamaru however narrowed his eyes. He had known Naruto a few years now and knew he wouldn't lie. However, why he was learning this now seemed awfully suspicious.

Also, during his speech he always mentioned his clan in the past tense and the fact he was the heir was also kind of odd. Usually if an heir was named at such a young age, clan head status would go to another person until the true heir was the proper age.

Naruto was saying he was the heir and head of the clan. He shouldn't be both unless he was the only survivor.

While Shikamaru was thinking everything out, Ino was again hounding Naruto with questions.

"So where does your clan live, what are they like, is bright, blond hair common in your clan?" Ino was throwing the questions out in rapid fire.

When Shikamaru had finished his thought he finally listened to what Ino was saying. He looked at Naruto and saw him on the verge of tears and realized that confirmed it. He was the only member of his clan.

Seeing Ino constantly spitting out questions he decided he had enough.

"Ino!" Shikamaru shouted at her. Ino didn't even look at him and said, "Not now Shika."

Shikamaru hear her dismiss him and saw her going to ask more questions so he decided to just get this over with, he sighed and grabbed her shoulder, spun her to face him and slapped her across the face, hard.

"What the hell Shikamaru. Why did you do that?" Ino asked in complete shock.

Ignoring her, Shikamaru walked over and put a hand on Naruto's shoulder and told him he would walk home with him and talk if he wanted.

Naruto nodded and mouthed out a thank you to him.

Shikamaru gave Ino a cold stare that told her to shut up and she quickly started staring at the ground.

The rest of lunch went a lot smoother. Naruto's clan did not come back up and Naruto was feeling better at the end of the lunch in time to get back to class.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

When the day was finally over and done with, Naruto nodded to Shikamaru signaling he could walk with him home. Shikamaru nodded back and gathered up his bag and walked with him.

As they walked, Shikamaru asked him a few questions, with a bit more tact that Ino had, about his clan.

Naruto had told him they were masters of fuin-jutsu, originally from the land of whirlpools. After the second shinobi war, many of the clan moved to the village.

He also told him that Mito had been married to the first hokage getting Shikamaru to raise his eyebrow at that.

"If an Uzumaki was married to the first hokage, how come she isn't plastered in all of the history books as an Uzumaki?" Shikamaru asked.

"I think they just changed her name to Mito Senju and no one really cared where she came from before." Tenten said.

"Do you know the little red swirl on the back and shoulders of shinobi vests? They are the Uzumaki clan symbol. The first hokage had them placed their after his and Mito's wedding as a show of loyalty to her clan." Naruto said suddenly.

"Wait, really? That is definitely not in the books. Where did you read that from?" Shikamaru asked.

"It was in a history book I found in my mom's library." Naruto said back.

"Did you get all of the way through it?" Tenten asked him.

"Well no. It has only been a few days. I just looked up at the point where the Uzumaki clan came to Konoha and started going from there." Naruto replied.

Shikamaru nodded. It seemed like a good spot to start after all. They continued walking, talking about mostly small things.

When Shikamaru finally realized they weren't going to Naruto's apartment he asked if he also got a house in his inheritance.

Naruto nodded telling him that they would be there pretty quick.

When Shikamaru finally saw the compound however, he was impressed. There was a lot of unused land and that struck Shikamaru as odd.

He didn't comment on it however as they went into the house. They showed him around a bit and all sat in the living room to chat some more.

They went into a bit more about the clan and what Naruto was planning to do with the compound going forward.

He of course hadn't thought that far ahead but for now it would just be a hideout for his friends if they ever needed it.

Shikamaru was rather happy to hear that. He saw it as the perfect place to hide from his mother from time to time.

They told him they would always have a guest bedroom open for him if he wanted it. They also decided to invite Ino and Choji over tomorrow to show them around.

Naruto was still annoyed at Ino for hounding him but they had all saw it coming.

He wouldn't hold that over his friend's head for long but was still hurt a little bit. He valued his friends too highly for that.

They kept going through the basic tour until they finally got to the library. Shikamaru was a bit interested seeing how it was built. The Nara clan had quite a few members interested in fuin-jutsu and he knew the basic concept of it.

Shikamaru opened a random scroll and saw just how intense the fuin-jutsu formula was inside and decided Naruto wasn't kidding when he said they were masters.

Nara's tended to like fuin-jutsu as it was mostly a research heavy art and not physically demanding. While their research was more based around ease of living as opposed to the more military applications of the Uzumaki clan, they were still at least decent at it.

A little while later Tenten asked Shikamaru if he wanted to stay for dinner but he declined. His mother would freak out if he missed dinner. She was 'troublesome' like that in Shikamaru's words.

They waved goodbye to Shikamaru and decided to go ahead and get dinner going and afterwards clean up a little bit.

The house wasn't dirty by any means. It was still just dusty as they didn't fully clean the house when they moved in. They just gave it a quick once over like a light dusting and they swept up. The genin team that the hokage sent also barely touched the place.

This time however, they wiped everything off, dusted again, swept, and even mopped up afterwards. It was also a nice night out so they left the windows open after all the dusting.

They didn't work too late as they both still wanted to make sure they got plenty sleep. They still liked waking up early to train in the mornings. They also woke up an hour earlier when they would be stuck in the classroom all morning as well.

They both assumed that after six years it would add up to be a ton of extra training.

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The next day rolled around and after a few hours of early training, Naruto and Tenten made their way to the academy.

It would turn out to be a rather boring day in the classroom of course but it was important.

After class was dismissed, Naruto had everyone come over and see the house and get everything cleared up.

As soon as Ino saw the huge, empty compound and found out that Naruto and Tenten were the only ones living in the main house, she realized how rude she was being the other day and apologized.

Naruto waved it off as nothing. Just like with Shikamaru, they talked until it got to be close to dinner time and everyone went home.

They all decided they would talk to their parents about letting them stay the night over the weekend and hoped for the best.

Naruto and Tenten went with their usual routine and after dinner got some more studying in. Naruto was getting frustrated at the boring stuff Iruka-sensei wanted them to read but got over it when Tenten slapped him in the back of the head.

Naruto had to admit, he wouldn't be studying near as much if not for Tenten.

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 **Skip to Friday after school**

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Everyone had a bag with them full of what they needed for the sleep over.

All three of them had gotten permission to stay over the weekend. Each having to come up with good excuses.

Shikamaru just told his parents that he would be helping Naruto organize his family library and that Ino and Choji were going to be there.

They both agreed as long as he did his chores when he got back. He agreed because he had thought of that earlier and Naruto said he would help him out.

Choji had to assure his mother that he would be eating properly. He told them that he would be helping Tenten cook diner and they would be fine.

His parents still sent him with an excess of food to cook just to be sure the servings were enough.

Ino had a bit trickier time convincing her parents. When she first asked, she asked if she could stay at Naruto's house for the weekend.

Inoichi, being the overprotective father he is, gave her a questioning look before using his experience in the T&I department to make sure his little princess wasn't getting involved in any hanky panky in a house full of boys.

Ino told him that she would stay in Tenten's room and that he already knew all of the boys anyway. It shut down Inoichi's thought process and got him to eventually come around.

Inoichi nodded after thinking about it some more and realizing he was being a little stupid. Ino's mother rushed her out the door and told her to have fun and not worry about her, just a little stupid, father.

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Back at Naruto and Tenten's home, they were just finishing cleaning out the guest bedrooms when they heard a knock at the door.

Naruto went to answer it showing Shikamaru and Choji waiting for him. "Hey guys, come on in."

"Hey guys, go ahead and pick a room and drop your bags off." Tenten said as she came out of the back hallway.

"Which rooms are yours?" Choji asked.

"Our room is the furthest room down the hall on the left. The rest are open." Naruto replied.

Shikamaru quirked an eyebrow at that. "Room?" He asked.

Naruto just nodded and Tenten actually caught what he meant. "Yeah, we share a room." She said.

Shikamaru just sighed and said. "Ino is going to give you guys hell over that, you do realize that, right?"

Naruto didn't get what he meant but Tenten understand it. "Yeah, I know." She sighed.

Naruto looked at them both before shrugging and helping Choji with his extra bag.

"Choji, why do you have so much stuff?" Naruto asked as he hefted his other bag over his shoulder.

"My mom said I had to be sure to eat right while I was away from home. She ended up sending me here with a bunch of food." Choji replied, looking slightly embarrassed.

Naruto could understand that, he had met his mother a few times and she always made sure he didn't leave hungry. He could only imagine just how much she would go overboard with her own son.

"Well I guess we will go ahead and put it in the fridge and plan out a dinner for later." Tenten said following Naruto into the kitchen.

As they opened up the heavy bag, their jaws almost dropped. There was enough food in there to last them weeks let alone one weekend.

They started to put it away until they heard Choji come back into the living room. "Choji, you did tell your mom you were only staying for the weekend right?" Tenten asked.

"Yeah, I know, she still packed a ton of food huh." Choji said.

"No kidding, we could make just about anything with all of this, what do you guys want for dinner?" Tenten asked with a chuckle.

They kicked around a few ideas and chatted while they waited for Ino to arrive. None of them were surprised as they had sleepovers before and Ino's dad always took forever letting her go out anywhere.

It was only another half an hour until Ino finally arrived and Tenten showed her to her room.

As Ino walked into the room she realized quickly that it was rather bare. "Tenten, isn't this supposed to be your room?" Ino asked.

"No, this is a guest bedroom." Tenten replied with a sigh, knowing where this was going.

"I thought you said there were only four bedrooms. Are Choji and Shikamaru sharing a room or something?" Ino asked back.

Tenten sighed again, she really wasn't looking forward to this. "No, me and Naruto-kun are sharing a room." Tenten replied.

The resulting screech of "WHAAAAT" from Ino nearly blew Tenten's ear drums out and gave Naruto an instant headache in the other room.

"Ino, we have been living together for over two years now. What part of that is surprising to you?" Tenten asked, rubbing her ear to make sure she still had her hearing.

Ino did not really seem to understand from that and asked. "So you share a bed and stuff, what the hell Tenten, how long have you two been dating?" Ino asked in utter shock.

"We aren't dating Ino, we are best friends and we are going to be shinobi. We have the utmost trust in each other and that is how we live." Tenten answered sounding rather annoyed at Ino.

"So, do you guys kiss and stuff?" Ino asked, stepping a little closer to Tenten.

"No Ino, we have held hands and that is it so stop asking about it." Tenten said with a slight blush at how close Ino was getting.

"Awww, someone is embarassed, come on tell me, what's it like being that close to a boy?" Ino asked, practically knocking Tenten over at how close she was standing to her now.

Tenten was blushing furiously now but decided to turn it on Ino. "I don't know Ino, maybe you should find out yourself." Tenten said with a smirk.

Ino quickly took a step back and blushed furiously herself. Ino was very mature for her age, mostly due to her clan teacher her how to mess with people's minds. It led to her learning a bit about sexuality at a much earlier age.

She had already gotten 'the talk' from her overbearing dad. He didn't want her to go out into the world and have someone take advantage of her because she was an attractive young girl.

The village of Konoha was a nice village, there were however those that would take advantage of a lone girl walking alone. Some shinobi lived very fast paced lives to cope with how young they could die in the field.

Drugs, sex and even rape were far from rare occurrences. Ino was for the most part safe from any shinobi trying to rape her because of her status as clan heir. Civilians however, there was the small chance they would not recognize her and all it took was one stupid junkie to touch her wrong and if she had not had the talk, she could wind up getting taken advantage of.

She knew what was generally considered right and wrong. To her however, her natural curiosity would get her to want to know what holding hands and such was like. Of course she was only eight years old and knew better than to do more than that but she was a rebel.

Ino had finally finished thinking about what she wanted to do and turned back to Tenten, only to notice she had already returned to the living room.

She walked into the living room and glared at Tenten before sitting next to Naruto on the couch. They all chatted a bit and just overall enjoyed themselves relaxing together.

After a bit, Tenten decided to get started on dinner and Choji offered to help her. Ino, Naruto and Shikamaru decided to go walk around the ground for a bit and see what all of the land was like.

As they walked around, Ino nearly cried when she saw what used to be a garden. "It's all gone!" She exclaimed.

"Well no one has lived here for years Ino, what did you expect." Naruto said with a slightly downcast look.

"This won't do, this won't do at all." Ino said as she grabbed one of her kunai and started to clear out the weeds and see if any of the garden could be saved.

Naruto and Shikamaru tried to get her to stop clearing out the garden and keep looking around but she was completely in the zone and ignored them.

They both shrugged and started walking around again. They could see bits of foundation where the other houses used to be. There was also a few spots that seemed to have a path at one point. All of them were completely overgrown however.

Naruto and Shikamaru talked about cleaning the place up and even about possibly building a larger space to train in.

Shikamaru wasn't looking forward to the work it would take to build a training area, or the actual training. He had a sense of honor that told him to help Naruto since he was going to help with his chores later.

It also wasn't a project that would be done in one day. He might be able to con Naruto into taking a few weeks to do it. Then at least he wouldn't have to exert himself much.

Shikamaru suggested they should get the main path cleaned up first and Naruto agreed. They would toss the ideas out in front of the others over dinner.

It would take a few hours to get the path cleaned out and put back together but it was only a first step. Agreeing, they both went back to pick up Ino and head inside assuming dinner was close to ready.

With Ino, she had cleared out the small flower garden and was taking stock of what was there. Well, there wasn't anything left that would grow back so she was more trying to figure out what was there.

Having no idea at all she just decided to tell Naruto the garden was ruined and recommend some flowers to plant and go from there.

Seeing Shikamaru and Naruto heading back to the house she decided to dust herself off and get in the house as well.

Once everyone made it into the house, Tenten told them that dinner would be ready in just a few more minutes. Everyone went and washed their hands and Naruto set the table in time for it to be ready.

Tenten and Choji had just made a pot of chicken curry and rice as something simple to make on the first night.

Around the table, everyone was talking about what they could do with the compound and how to fix it up. Tenten thought it would be nice to clear everything out within a few weeks and planned on working at it after school for the next week or so.

Ino said she would come back with a few seeds to get the flowers blooming around the house again and some basic vegetable seeds to start another garden. Naruto loved the idea as he liked plants and never had his own garden before.

He had taken care of Neko's small garden she kept behind the old apartment while she was gone on missions and he rather liked working in a garden.

Choji and Shikamaru decided they would try and fix the overgrown front stone path tomorrow. Well, Choji decided and was going to drag Shikamaru along.

Naruto wanted to get a training area cleared out so they could train outside if the weather was nice. He also was wanting an area to practice the jutsu he would eventually learn. It was a while away yet but he liked to be prepared.

Tenten decided she would just bounce around and help everyone and supervise. When Naruto asked why he wasn't getting to be in charge, Tenten just told him the place would fall apart if he was in charge. Naruto wanted to argue but everyone laughing at that made him realize it was probably true.

Everyone decided to relax the rest of the night so they would be ready for the next day. Ino remembered they had a private hot spring and everyone grabbed their swim suits they had brought and all went in.

While everyone was relaxing, having a good time, on the other side of the village, things were not quite as relaxed.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

"Thank you for meeting with me this late Inoichi-sama." Hiruzen said as he took a puff of his pipe.

"It's not a problem Hokage-sama. What was it that you needed me for." Inoichi asked, taking a seat in front of Hiruzen.

"To cut to the chase, Naruto-kun seems to be able to hear the Kyuubi talking to him. I have called Jiraya-kun back once again to check the seal as it seems to be far easier for the Kyuubi to contact him that it was before." Hiruzen stated bluntly.

"I take it you want me to go into Naruto's head again. Am I correct in this assumption?" Inoichi asked.

"Yes, Jiraya-kun has only just left the village recently so he did not get far. I tried to call him back last week but he had to contact his spy network as new information had come up. He told he me would be back late Sunday night. I intend to talk with Naruto-kun after he gets out of school on Monday, will be you able to stop by for that?" Hiruzen asked.

"Of course, I would honestly like to go into Naruto's mindscape with him to gauge how the Kyuubi interacts around him. If it is hostile we may have more problems going forward. My first meeting with the Kyuubi makes me doubt that however." Inoichi said as he stopped to think for a bit.

Hiruzen took another puff from his pipe and allowed Inoichi to elaborate on his thoughts.

"I believe the Kyuubi saw Naruto as an extension of himself. If that is true, the Kyuubi would not do something to intentionally harm Naruto. He would most likely tell Naruto anything that could help him get stronger to make a good showing as his jailer." Inoichi elaborated.

"Yes, that could very well be the case. The incident in question was at some point the Kyuubi told Naruto of his former jailer, Kushina. While I told Naruto everything I could without informing him of her status as his mother, the Kyuubi told him that I was withholding information and told him that if I did not tell Naruto everything, he would." Hiruzen said with a sigh.

"So he knows, is he living in the compound now?" Inoichi asked.

"Yes, he has been all week." Hiruzen confirmed.

"Well, that certainly explains why Ino-chan was so insistent on staying over at his house." Inoichi brought up.

"Ah, to be young again." Hiruzen said with a faint smile. The smile quickly faded as he started to think on the impending headache coming his way.

"Yes, if that is all Hokage-sama, I would go ahead and take my leave." Inoichi said.

"Yes, that is all. I will see you here after Naruto-kun's class is dismissed on Monday." Hiruzen said as he got up himself.

'All of this crap just has to land on the same day doesn't it?' Hiruzen asked himself as he left his office intending to take a walk to clear his head.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

 **Well that's a wrap folks. Another chapter finally done and I can finally get started on the next one.**

 **I apologize for how late this was. The site was down for me for a few days and I couldn't post it and that bummed me out and I put off finishing it. Also having a social life for the first time in months was a rather horrible experience and a waste of two perfectly good days.**

 **As I post this chapter I am going to be starting up a new series that will be strictly back-seat to this one. It will be called, The New Team Rocket and is a Pokemon story. Updates for the new story will be much slower than this and shouldn't interfere with this story's releases at all.**

 **It will be a crime filled dark Pokemon story so don't expect any 'Power of Friendship' kind of atmosphere. If that interests you at all take a look at the description on it when I post it. Should be up today or tomorrow.**

 **Thanks for the read and I look forward to seeing everyone at the next chapter.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Welcome back to Trust By My Side. Some of you might have noticed I started a new story called The New Team Rocket. Do not worry, this story is still much higher on my priority list.**

 **I am also really happy to say that Trust By My Side has hit the 10k views mark. We also passed 50 reviews and got to say it's amazing.**

 **I have gotten several really good messages and idea through PMs, and through the kik chat and gotta say the feedback is wonderful.**

 **Anyway, lets get into Chapter 10 of Trust By My Side.**

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Everyone was having a great time spending the weekend together. They started to get the compound cleaned up just a little bit and everyone was having fun making jokes and teasing Shikamaru for being lazy.

Naruto eventually just told him that he wouldn't help with his chores if he didn't at least try to help clean up the compound.

Shikamaru sighed and decided to just fiddle around the dirt with a kunai so it looked like he was helping.

The main objective of all of their work was to try and get the small stone path leading up to the main building distinguishable from the weeds. They decided to completely remove the small stones and clear out the surrounding grass and replace them.

It was really tedious, but it definitely made the area look better.

It only took the kids a short while to get everything sorted out and by the time they were done Tenten had finished lunch for them.

After eating, everyone decided to just take the rest of the day easy. Well, easy for Naruto and Tenten. They decided to go to the park for a while as it was a nice day. Naruto and Tenten ran there, everyone else just decided on a light jog to try and keep up.

Running around and playing for most of the day put everyone in a great mood and decided to relax for the rest of the evening. Relax being relative however. Tenten was not relaxing much whenever Ino managed to corner her and ask her about Naruto constantly.

She wished that she could bring herself to just slap her in the face. That might get her to back off for a bit at least. Tenten just thought herself to be too nice to do that to Ino. She eventually just told Ino to just find out for herself.

This time she just walked past Ino to get back to the boys leaving an annoyed Ino behind. Ino was mad because she didn't live with a boy and thus couldn't just do that. She thought about teasing Naruto, but he was just far too clueless for it to be any fun.

Choji and Shikamaru were both out as well, they were practically brothers to her. Naruto was as well, but being as close to Choji and Shikamaru's family made it a bit weirder.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when Choji called her to come play some more. Ino ran back over and got that thought out of her head.

The rest of the day was really fun for everyone. Naruto tried to pretty much sumo wrestle Choji, and failed spectacularly. Shikamaru only used the word 'troublesome' sixteen times in five hours. Ino didn't ruin her clothes and Tenten only had to smack Naruto twice. Overall good day.

When the sun was finally going down, everyone headed back to the house. Tenten and Choji started on dinner while Ino was talking to them. Naruto and Shikamaru went up to the library and poked their heads into some of the fuin-jutsu scrolls.

Naruto wanted to dive right into the personal journals of his mother but Shikamaru quickly snapped him out of that when he actually read some of the notes.

"Naruto, if you mess up one line on this seal, it says it will completely turn everything within fifty feet into ash. Did you even read the notes at the bottom?" Shikamaru scolded.

Naruto just laughed and scratched the back of his head. He saw that it sounded like a cool explosive note and didn't really read any of the notes on what happened when the seal failed during setup.

Shikamaru just sighed and gave Naruto a book labeled 'Fuin-jutsu Basics' and told him to learn those first. Naruto was rather annoyed by that until he saw that one of the first seals it was going to teach him was an explosive note.

While this tier of explosive note was graded to blow open a door lock, but it was still an explosive note. The point of the tag was to make sure that someone could perform the required level of calligraphy before they got their hands on something that could actually really hurt them.

Tier one notes were primarily used to breach open a door as they were only strong enough to break a lock. The seal for it was very simple and was a perfect place to start.

After those, tier two notes were graded to punch a small hole thought your average civilian home's wall. These were very common and were what most genin liked to carry around. They would blow someone's limbs off if the note was close enough, but were still not very combat grade. They were however, very cheap.

Tier three where what most shinobi used at all times. They were graded to knock down a tree if placed properly and would knock human limbs off with relative ease. They were expensive as most people that studied fuin-jutsu stopped before they reached this level because they were dangerous to make.

Tier four was the kind of seal that separated the men form the boys. These were not sold to anyone below Jonin rank and were carefully regulated. They were more akin to a firestorm than a simple explosive and could destroy an entire side of someone's home if placed correctly.

Finally there are tier five tags. These have not been used in a long time as they are primarily used in siege warfare. They were graded to punch holes in fortified bunkers and would take hours to make even a single note. The problem with them was, they were so volatile, they had a habit of detonating randomly. This forced a fuin-jutsu master to make them on the field or have them prepared to the point where an adept could fill in enough to get it to work.

There was mention of higher tiers but those were primarily used my masters to show off and were generally seen as redundant to make.

After reading through the brief introduction, Naruto realized that explosive tags where a lot more hardcore than he was expecting. He had only seen one used before and it only made a small hole in the ground. Reading on how strong they could be made, he got a little envious.

Seeing the look in Naruto's eye, Shikamaru decided to peek over his shoulder and read what he just saw. He just sighed and was glad he had his own compound to destroy and not a public training ground.

Everyone rounded out the evening just telling stories from their families and just gossip that was going around.

It was another day down and everyone was rather bummed that today was the last day of their weekend. Everyone would go home before dinner and they all went out for some barbeque for lunch.

They used to go out to eat more often but being in the academy, they needed to buy their gear and none of them wanted to just mooch off their families for that.

The day flew by faster than the others and they barely did anything for it. They decided to stay out of the compound after lunch and play some more. They all accepted that when they were shinobi these kind of weekends would be really rare and decided to just have as much fun as they could.

Dinner time rolled around and everyone had to pack up and head home. Shikamaru asked Naruto if he could talk to his father about a scroll he had been interested in. It was for an elemental manipulation seal he had seen and Naruto said that was cool just to bring it back. No worries there.

When everyone finally made it out the door, Tenten plopped on the couch and Naruto decided to sit with her.

"What got you so tired?" Naruto asked. Tenten just shook her head and told him Ino wore her out sometimes. Naruto just nodded. He could usually hear Ino wherever she was in the house and Tenten just wasn't that much of a talker compared to her.

They decided on a small dinner of leftovers that Choji left them. He didn't think it would be a good idea for him to bring back what was left over. His mom might think he was starving himself or something.

"Well, how about we make up for an easy going weekend and just spar for a while?" Naruto asked.

Tenten smiled, she had a bit of aggression to work out and Naruto wouldn't shy away from a good fight. "Let's get to it then." She replied walking out to a small clear spot they had made over the weekend.

They sparred in full force wanting to make up for the easy weekend before Tenten spoke up when they took a few minute break. "Naruto, did you read any of the tai-jutsu scrolls in the library. Your style is rather close to basic Uzumaki style." Tenten told him.

"Really?" Naruto asked, seeming a bit shocked at that. "Well yeah. Go read up on it when we are done. Round three however starts now." She said as she got up and dropped into a stance. "Tie breaker round. Haha let's go." Naruto said as he dropped into his stance as well.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Naruto was in a sour mood as he looked through the library trying to find the scroll Tenten told him about. He lost the last round and that annoyed him. He was upset until he actually found the scroll and went through it.

He read from the basic forms all the way through until he got to the advanced style. He had to admit, what he knew was most of the basic form and that was cool. Naruto looked a bit closer at the intermediate style and tried to work out a few of the katas so he had something to practice at the academy tomorrow.

He was looking forward to getting more into the style. The notes from his mother's journal were rather motivating. She talked a bit about how she saw the style and what she thought about it. It took a lot from many different styles and could be used to have a slight edge against many of them.

'A jack of all trades but master of none is better than a master of one.' His mother had put that quote under the basic forms. He thought on it and had to agree. It was similar to what Itachi had told them before about not being over specialized.

He finally put the scroll down and decided to get some sleep. Another week was coming and he had a new style to work on.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Monday came and went. Iruka told them not to slack off again next weekend, how he knew, no one had figured out. No one really worried however, it was just a one time thing after all.

As soon as the bell sounded Naruto stood up to get going but was stopped by Iruka. He told him that the hokage wanted to see him. He also told Tenten that it might be a long meeting so to go ahead and head home.

They both shared a look at each other and just shrugged and headed to their destinations. After waiting for a few minutes at the hokage's waiting room, Naruto finally got called up.

Inside, was Inoichi and Jiraya waiting for him. Naruto instantly sighed and just guessed it had to do with the fox. They all nodded. He sighed again and took a seat.

"Naruto-kun, we called you here again because we are worried about the seal." Hiruzen said. "I know Jiji, I got ya." Naruto said waving it off.

"Well then, since you understand let us just hurry up." Jiraya said as he stepped forward. "Lose the shirt gaki."

Naruto sighed one last time and pulled his shirt off and set in on the back of the chair he was on. He stood up faced Jiraya while he pushed some chakra through his fingertips to reveal the seal as he looked it over.

After a minute he checked the notes he had on the seal and said the seal was exactly how he left it last time. Inoichi stepped forward and said he would like to dive into Naruto's mind and bring him with him.

Naruto nodded and followed Inoichi's instructions to be pulled into his own mindscape by Inoichi while Jiraya monitored the seal.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Naruto opened his eyes and looked around to see Inoichi standing beside him right outside the Kyuubi's door. "Inoichi-sama, what exactly are you wanting to figure out here?" Naruto asked.

"Well Naruto, we just want to know how you interact with the Kyuubi for the most part." Inoichi answered smoothly. Naruto just shrugged and went into the room.

As he entered the room, the Kyuubi opened one of his eyes slightly. Glancing at Naruto and Inoichi for a moment he turned a bit to face them. "So boy, to what do I owe the pleasure this time. You haven't been under any real stress lately so what happened now?" The Kyuubi asked in a rather annoyed tone.

"Well, Jiji said he wanted Inoichi-sama and myself to come into the seal and talk to you Kyuubi-dono." Naruto replied simply sitting down in the chair that was still in front of the cage.

Inoichi was looking around and saw that the place was much different that it was before. Was Naruto trying to appease the fox or did he command him to do it. Naruto seemed relaxed enough so he doubted that but how did Naruto even manage to change his mindscape so much.

"As entertaining as you are Yamanaka, you thoughts are rather annoying. Unless you want to tell me why, you, are here. You can get out." The Kyuubi said with a slight snarl.

"Ah yes, Lord Kyuubi, I was tasked to see how you and Naruto were interacting. We needed to know if Naruto was being told anything harmful to him and how often you are able to contact him." Inoichi said calmly.

"Tell the boy one secret at the village flips out. I get what you really mean Yamanaka. I will keep what secrets need to be kept secret. Don't worry your little blonde head about that. Tell your stupid leadership that as well. As for frequency, when the boy is under intense emotions. Like say when he realized that you did not even tell him about his own mother." The Kyuubi said with a bit of venom in his voice.

"Yes, that was mostly for his safety. We did not want him to harm himself with trying to do to much fuin-jutsu before he was properly trained." Inoichi said, careful of what he said in front of Naruto.

"Fuin-jutsu is dangerous I will give you that." The Kyuubi said as he smacked his tails against his cage. "Still, just telling him would have been enough. Trying to treat my container like shit isn't going to go unpunished. Also dragging him down here without telling him anything will not go unpunished either. Next time, try asking the damn boy Yamanaka." He said before blasting some chakra through the bars and blasting Inoichi into the wall. This caused him to fade out as he was forced from the mindscape.

"Well that wasn't very nice Kyuubi-dono. He is just concerned that you are trying to kill me or something." Naruto said with a hint of sadness in his voice.

The Kyuubi just sighed. "You are still so oblivious as to what is going on around you boy. The don't trust you and probably never will as long as I am in here. I would recommend training till you drop so you are strong enough so that when they decide to just kill you instead of these farce meetings, you can defend yourself."

"What do you mean, why would they just kill me?" Naruto asked with a bit of shock to his voice.

"They all fear the unknown. They don't know what will happen if you get stronger. If you somehow manage to master my chakra, you will be nigh unstoppable. They don't like the idea of someone being stronger than them so they will try to sabotage you or just kill you outright." The Kyuubi said, his tails waving behind him showing him to be rather pissed off.

"I have never seen that within the shinobi ranks though. The civilians are mean, yes, but they don't understand shinobi stuff. By the time I get out of the academy, they won't be able to hurt me even if they wanted to." Naruto said trying to convince himself more than the Kyuubi.

"Fair enough, but there are still shinobi that will never trust you. If you go out on a mission, your team could turn on you. I killed a lot of shinobi before I got sealed into you. Hatred breeds hatred, and I unleashed a ton upon this village before I got sealed again." The Kyuubi said angrily.

"Well, I will just break that hatred then." Naruto said with conviction. The Kyuubi just looked at him like he was crazy until he read his mind a bit. His thoughts were nothing but trying to make peace with everyone and prove that he could be a shinobi and that he and the Kyuubi were not evil.

The Kyuubi just laughed at him. "Boy, you are something else. You don't even stop at wanting to prove yourself to the village. You want to prove that both of us are not evil huh? That is utterly ridiculous. Even if you were the hokage, some people would still be against you." He said still laughing.

"Let them be, I will not stop until they understand both of us. Tenten already trusts both of us. I have already succeeded once and just have to do it again and again." Naruto said with more confidence.

"I suppose you have. And here I was thinking you might be boring." The Kyuubi said with a chuckle. "Seems they got tired of you being alone in here, they are waking you up. One day you will be called to train with my chakra. I don't think you will have any problem with it boy. Tell the old man I am pissed that they don't have faith in you. Should get them off your back."

Naruto got out an intelligent 'Huh?' before he found himself being woken up by Inoichi. He welcomed him back and asked him what happened.

"Well, the Kyuubi just told me that he was getting annoyed at you for having zero faith in me and takes offence to it." Naruto said. It was the close enough to the truth that Inoichi just dropped it.

"Jiraya-kun, how is the seal? Can we wrap this up?" Hiruzen asked. "Yeah, seals fine sensei. Naruto has enough chakra now that he had a few days to adjust to larger reserves that I can hardly feel the Kyuubi chakra at all." Jiraya said glancing over his notes again.

"Well, that's good at least. Naruto-kun, I can tell you are also annoyed at having to go through this again so we will just leave it there. If the fox messes with you, just talk to me or Inoichi ok?" Hiruzen asked. "I will trust that you can keep us in the loop."

"I can do that Jiji. Don't worry about it. The Kyuubi hasn't harmed me in any way and we seem to have a basic understanding going so far. It's fine." Naruto said before asking to leave.

Hiruzen waved him out and told him to visit some more. Once Naruto left, Hiruzen leaned back and took out his pipe. Thinking for a few moments, he finally discussed what happened in Naruto's mindscape in a bit more detail.

Inoichi simply said that the Kyuubi hated him a lot more than he hated Naruto and they seemed to not be bothered by each other in the slightest.

"Well I suppose that is better than everyone has been fearing. That will be all Inoichi-sama, thank you for your time." Hiruzen said. Inoichi bowed and took his leave. After he left, Hiruzen turned to Jiraya.

"What do you think?" He asked simply. "I think provoking the fox is stupid. All we need to know is if the seal is weakening, all the stuff in Naruto's head is his responsibility. We don't have any reason to be poking around in there and the more we do it, the more likely the fox is to retaliate. Since it can't hurt us, it will go after Naruto. I would rather not see that happen." Jiraya said back.

"I agree, I will have Inoichi make up a report that is along the same lines. He is the mental expert after all. After that, the council should understand to shut up with Inoichi's summary and lay off the child." Hiruzen said evenly.

With the civilians having a far more passive role, the council was a bit more straight-forward. However, there were still problem council members. Primarily his advisers, Danzo and the Uchiha clan. He would need to work something out soon before that mess boiled over.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

The council meeting came and went. It was a rather enjoyable meeting for Hiruzen. They went over Inoichi's report and everyone agreed that it would be wise to step off the boy. Fugaku and the advisors were still concerned that the boy should be handled by either the Uchiha or Danzo but they were outvoted.

Hiruzen could see how annoyed the Uchiha clan head was after he left the meeting room and decided he would need to talk to Itachi to find out how loyal the Uchiha clan remained as a whole.

Speaking of Itachi, he was set to return along with Neko today. He would hold him after his mission report and talk to him. He needed to know how far Fugaku was willing to go and Itachi was the best man for the job.

It would be a few more hours but they finally arrived. Their mission had been a rather straight forward assassination mission, Neko was needed to work as a counter sensor. The target had a sensor with him and Neko had to be sure Itachi could bypass them.

Everything went off without a hitch and they both made it back unharmed. About as good as an anbu mission could go. Since the mission was classified as S-rank, Hiruzen's anbu in the walls had already left for the briefing.

"Neko-chan, you should head out and visit Naruto-kun. You and him have lot to talk about." Hiruzen said. "What do you mean Hokage-sama?" Neko asked.

"Well, I had to tell him of Kushina, he is currently staying in the Uzumaki clan head estate. You are free to tell him anything regarding Kushina. Anything except for his father's name. He will no doubt want to hear about him and I think he will accept just a basic personality profile from you." Hiruzen said calmly.

Neko stood frozen before her hokage. It took a few seconds but she was finally able to speak. "Hokage-sama, thank you. I ask to be released from active anbu duty as of now."

"Of course. I will ask that remain in reserve for anbu missions as a condition of your retirement." Hiruzen countered. "Of course Hokage-sama." She replied. "In that case, I will take your mask and reinstate you as a tokubetsu jonin."

Nodding and removing her mask, she placed it upon the hokage's desk and bowed before asking to leave. "Naruto-kun should be getting out of class soon. Why don't you walk home with him. Should save some time." Hiruzen said.

Yugao, formerly known as Neko, smiled and bowed before turning to head out.

"Karasu, I have another thing I need to talk to you about. I need you to gather some info on the Uchiha clan. Fugaku-sama has been rather restless as of late. You have been out in the field too long and I no longer have current information." Hiruzen stated calmly.

"I understand Hokage-sama. I will begin at once." Karasu said before bowing and disappearing in a swirl of leaves. 'I hope you don't find anything to troubling Karasu.' Hiruzen lamented.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Naruto was just getting out of another relatively boring day at the academy when he saw a purple haired woman wave to him. He looked at her with his head quirked to one side. "Neko-onee-chan?" Naruto asked cautiously.

"Glad you still recognize me Naruto-kun. How was school?" Yugao said with a smile. "Boring as usual. Why aren't you wearing a mask anymore?" Naruto asked.

"Ah, I retired from the anbu. I think it is about time I started working on other responsibilities instead." Yugao said cryptically. "What do you mean Neko?" Tenten asked. "I'll tell you about when we get home. Also, call me Yugao since I am not anbu anymore." Yugao said before she started walking toward the Uzumaki estate.

"Uhh, Yugao-onee-chan, How did you know we live this way now?" Naruto asked. "The hokage told me before I came down." She said.

When they finally got to the gate, Yugao got there first and when she pushed on the gate, she saw that Naruto had locked it behind him. She bit her thumb and swiped it across the lock before Naruto had a chance to pull out the key and the gate swung open.

Yugao kept walking and looked at some of the work the kids had done over the last weekend and had to say she was pleased with how it was coming along. She made it to the front door before Naruto managed to catch up to her.

"Onee-chan, how were you able to open the gate? I am sure I locked it." Naruto asked. "Well my blood and chakra are also a key to the compound." Yugao replied simply.

"Hokage-sama said that only Uzumaki's could unlock the door. How were you able to." Tenten asked. "Well my blood was added a long time ago." Yugao said simply before going inside. She was impressed with how nice the place looked.

"Ok Onee-chan, what do you mean that your blood was added to the seal a long time ago?" Naruto asked.

"Well, when I was much younger, I looked into the anbu core. I was still young and not skilled enough yet but a captain at the time, Kushina, took me under her wing and trained me." Yugao said as she started to smile fondly.

"Wait, she was an anbu captain? That's awesome!" Naruto exclaimed. Yugao just smiled at this even more. "Yes, she was one of the best." She told him.

"I studied under her for a little over a year and she became like an older sister to me. When she found out that she was pregnant with you, she realized just how lonely the Uzumaki compound was and invited me to stay. I said yes so she added my blood to the seal." Yugao said.

Naruto smiled and nodded thinking that she was done with the story but she continued.

"It was a few months later that I asked if I could read some of the Uzumaki traditions. She said yes and we went through the library to learn more about the clan I was now staying with. The Uzumaki are a very free clan in terms of people joining the clan." She said before pausing for a moment.

"It would have been about two months before you were to be born that she came to me with an offer. We sat down and talked about me staying in the clan permanently. She asked me if I would do her the honor of joining the Uzumaki clan as her sister. I did not even think about it and accepted immediately." She said with an even bigger smile.

"Wait, so you were Ka-san's sister? Does that mean you are my Ba-san?" Naruto asked sounding really confused.

"Yes, I suppose I am aren't I?" Yugao said with a small chuckle. Naruto was happy knowing he had real family but Tenten was still confused. "Why didn't you tell us earlier?"

"I wan an anbu until today. I was not permitted to remove my mask and reveal my identity to anyone." She said simply. "I did however do whatever I could to try to stay near Naruto-kun." Yugao replied.

Tenten and Naruto both nodded at this. She had been there to help them with anything they needed for as long as they could remember. "But why didn't you tell me about Ka-san before now?" Naruto asked suddenly.

"I would have had to give up my identity as anbu if I wanted to try and even then, it wasn't my place to tell you. It was assumed that if we told you that you were heir to a clan, you would grow up arrogant and spoiled." She said sadly.

"I, think I understand. I wouldn't want to grow up arrogant I suppose. I guess it also worked out in the end anyway." Naruto said sounding even sadder.

Yugao didn't really know what to tell him. She was ordered not to tell him anything and she followed her orders. Naruto didn't seem to hate her so she didn't want to make it worse than it was so she just let it drop.

"Are there any other Uzumaki's we don't know about?" Tenten asked. Yugao saw Naruto's head perk up a bit at that thought. She felt a bit bad and dashing his hopes again but had to tell him that she did not know of any other Uzumaki.

He seemed down again until he realized that he still had one more family member than he ever thought he would so he bounced back quickly. "Do you want to come back and live in the compound again?" Naruto asked.

"I would love to. I think I will see about getting a new house put up tomorrow. Maybe I will call in a favor from a friend and see if I can get one built up tomorrow." Yugao mused.

"How can you get a house built in one day?" Tenten asked. Yugao realized she talked a bit too much but had a reasonable enough cover. "Well some retired shinobi rather enjoy building and some manage to build homes and seal them in a large scroll. It's a bit tricky but some people have done it before." Yugao explained hoping to leave it at that.

Both kids just nodded and accepted the exploitation. Yugao let go of an internal sigh. She had know Tenzo from her time in the anbu and he owed her a favor so she was going to have him use his Mokuton to build a small home.

She had been on his squad for a short while when he was first brought into the anbu core. Not many people had trusted him as he was an experiment of Orochimaru and with his defection, it gave everyone associated with him a bad name.

She was a bit more believing of her hokage's word and when he claimed Tenzo was to be trusted, she trusted him. She followed the same principle when Anko was first found and the two of them had become best friends.

Now that she really looked at it. Her friends were all slightly outcasts. Kurenai was the Ice Queen of the village and she didn't really have many friends because of it. Anko and Tenzo were both Orochimaru test subjects. Even Kushina was a bit of an outcast in her youth. She was very blunt and quite tomboyish and really put people off of her.

They all were great people and meant a ton to her. She finally came back to the real world when she realized that Naruto was staring at her.

"Ah, well anyway it shouldn't be too much of a problem and thank you for letting me come back Naruto-kun." Yugao said with a smile.

"It's nothing Ba-chan. It's your home as much as it is mine anyway." Naruto said waving it off as nothing. "Can you tell me about Ka-san thought?" He asked.

"Sure, sit down, I have lots of stories about Kushina-chan." Yugao said as the sat down and started talking.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

It was a month later and everything was going well in the Uzumaki compound. Yugao had Tenzo build her a small house and even added a small pond with a dock to the compound.

Tenzo didn't worry about it any as it was rather fun for him to use his Mokuton for interesting builds. Wasn't fun just building things for practical means such as a small hut to sleep in or a one time use bridge. But using it for a permanent home and a nice dock had been rather fun for him.

Naruto didn't get to meet him as Yugao had him fix everything up while he was in the academy but he appreciated the addictions none the less.

While everyone was enjoying the nice night breeze sitting over their new pond, a not so pleasant meeting was going on inside the hokage's office.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

"So, what have you uncovered Karasu?" Hiruzen asked calmly. "The coup-d'etat is still the most popular opinion among the Uchiha council. There is just too much support behind the idea to quell it at this stage." Karasu replied evenly.

"How many are behind the idea?" Hiruzen asked. Worry being the primary emotion in his voice. "At least ninety percent. The only people opposed to the idea are non-shinobi and they are being quietly pushed to the edge of the Uchiha compound and effectively exiled over time." Karasu once again said evenly.

"Are any of the shinobi still loyal to the village?" Hiruzen asked once more, the smallest amount of hope still in his voice. "Tonbo remains loyal. Sasuke is also too young to understand what is happening in the clan. That is all." Karasu said with his voice straining to remain even.

"I understand. There are not many options left to us. Is there any way that Tonbo's gen-jutsu would be strong enough to sway the Uchiha council to remain loyal?" Hiruzen asked, banking most of his hope on this plan.

"I do not believe he could sway them all. Best case scenario, he would be able to sway enough to buy time. He would require at least a full year to reuse it if he used the gen-jutsu on multiple strong willed people like the council." Karasu said.

"How many council members would he have to sway to get the plans on hold long enough to use it again?" Hiruzen asked. "At least five of them. Five might be able to pull enough support to make the coup seem like a bad idea. Fugaku-sama may still try to just sweep them under the rug and go ahead with the plan anyway though." Karasu said, pausing to think some more.

"If he managed to get five under his gen-jutsu, it may stall out for several months and another plan could come up. However, he would have to target the strongest of the councils and there is a high chance that at least one of them would resist the gen-jutsu." Karasu finished.

"What would happen if that were to happen?" Hiruzen asked. "It would most likely not stall long enough and a coup would still happen." Karasu said with weariness seeping into his voice.

"We will need to talk to Tonbo soon then. The village's survival may rest upon his shoulders. For now it is our best plan, keep an ear out and see if you can find anything else out. Before you go, have you gotten an estimated time for when the coup may happen?" Hiruzen asked.

"Missions are already underway to pull in weapons from secret Uchiha stores scattered around the land of fire. I would estimate two weeks before they are completed. They have to take their time so as to not draw suspicion after all." Karasu said.

"If only it were not this difficult. I understand, keep me updated on any new developments. Bring Tonbo when he returns." Hiruzen said firmly before relaxing back into his chair.

Karasu bowed and disappeared in a swirl of leaves. Hiruzen had only two weeks to come up with a peaceful solution. He just hoped it would be enough time. Konoha could not survive a full civil war. It would be a domino effect as well as every other clan would feel threatened by any actions against the Uchiha clan.

He could not order an eradication order, he could not wait it out and he was not having any success with peace talks. What else was there?

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

 **Well that is the chapter. Took a while because of personal problems but I got it done anyway.**

 **Hopefully I am doing the honorifics correctly but I believe Ba-chan is an informal way to say aunt while Baa-chan would be more or less old lady or grandma... Hope I did that right if not tell me please.**

 **If I get no corrections that is how I will be doing it. Also, Karasu is raven and Tonbo is dragonfly. There honestly aren't very many anbu that are really well known so I will be making them up as I go. The masks at least.**

 **Other than that, the Kik chat is still up and running. #TrustByMySide. We have been kicking around ideas that may make it into this story as well as a few starts to potential new stories.**

 **One of us will no doubt start them eventually and we have actually gotten one story started and I will ask if I can put the name at the start of the next chapter and hope you guys will check it out as well.**

 **That is a wrap and I hope to see you in the next chapter of Trust By My Side.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Welcome back to Trust By My Side. Finally getting back into it and gotta say I have been away from the story for far too long. I am pretty much put my second story on a 'work on when I feel like it' kind of status.**

 **I like the story and like where it could go, but getting around 30 views on it in a few weeks was a let down on that one. Every chapter I write on this story however, I usually end the chapter well before I assumed I would when I started the chapter.**

 **This usually leads me to having trouble actually starting the next chapter. I did that pretty hard this time around and am starting another story as well. Not going to spoil it but the first chapter is going to be very long and should explain the basics of the story pretty well.**

 **Enough with the other stories however, let's get into Chapter 11 of Trust By My Side.**

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

It was nearing two weeks after Hiruzen and Karasu's meeting. Tonbo was back in the village and scheduled to meet the hokage in just a few short minutes.

Hiruzen idly fidgeted with his pipe as he was still struggling to come up with a peaceful solution. All peace talks with the Uchiha clan were met with indifference and snide comments of weakness. Hiruzen knew he was not seen as a tyrant and that was how he preferred to be seen.

He was too old for a civil war and Konoha was still suffering from the Kyuubi attack. They were close to their former glory, but with Kumo and Iwa strengthening their military for the last few years, he was unsure of their position as strongest village.

There had not been much poking at the borders, and that was a good sign that they still had time before war would inevitably come back around. He wanted to be sure they were at full strength before that happened.

He was snapped out of his musing when he heard a knock at his door. Karasu and Tonbo came in and Hiruzen waved the rest of his anbu protection out of his office.

"Welcome back to the village Tonbo, I trust your mission was a success?" Hiruzen asked calmly. "Of course, Hokage-sama." Tonbo replied evenly.

"I will go over your report another time, until then, do you know why I called you here along with Karasu?" Hiruzen asked, maintaining his calm demeanor as long as he could.

"You wish to discuss the growing friction between the Uchiha clan. Is that correct Hokage-sama." Tonbo asked back. "Yes, what is your view on all of this?" Hiruzen asked once more.

"I believe that internal struggle will weaken the village far more than the potential gain my clan seems to think would come from their actions." Tonbo replied evenly once more.

"Then where do your loyalties stand. With the village, or with the Uchiha clan?" Hiruzen asked nervously.

"With the village Hokage-sama. I am disapointed with my clan and would personally cast my name aside if I would not be hunted because of my power." He replied calmly.

"What of you Karasu? Would you cast aside your ties with your clan if it meant protecting the village from a full on civil war?" Hiruzen asked, feeling far more confident with Tonbo's confession.

"Yes Hokage-sama." Karasu said simply. "Then I have a SS-rank mission for the both of you." Hiruzen said before pausing to take a puff from his pipe.

"The Uchiha clan are mere days away from declaring full on war on my leadership. This will cause many casualties and leave the village in disarray. I cannot take action myself without causing every clan in the village to lose trust. Therefore, this mission will be completely off the record. This mission will officially never have happened." Hiruzen said firmly.

"Tonbo, you are to go before the Uchiha council and use your gen-jutsu to sway them against the coup. If this buys time, it is a success. If it completely stops the coup, it is an even greater success. If it does nothing, our hand will be forced to move on to the next mission." Hiruzen said pausing again to smoke.

"If this first mission fails, you have a month long mission waiting for you here. You will accept the mission and leave the village. You will then infiltrate the village and make your way to the Uchiha compound in the dead of night. You and Karasu, will be forced to eliminate the Uchiha clan, all but one Sasuke Uchiha. He is deemed to young to be a part of the coup and an official heir will be needed to maintain a direct line back to the first Uchihas." Hiruzen said quietly.

Watching to see if either of his anbu would flinch, Hiruzen was pleased to see no such reaction. "Karasu, you will first assassinate the Uchiha clan head and his wife. If Tonbo's assumption of how he awakened his fully evolved sharingan is true, this should enable you to gain the same power." Hiruzen said, once more watching for a flinch or something.

"If your eyes evolve, complete destruction is the next step. Assassinate every one of the clan silently. If the rest of the anbu catch on, you are to disable them but not kill them. Karasu, for your part, I will be forced to label you as missing nin and banish you from the village. The cover of this mission will be you and you alone killing off your own clan. Do you accept this mission?" Hiruzen asked.

"Yes Hokage-sama." Karasu said with a bow. No emotion coming from behind his mask. Hiruzen nodded at this and expressed his thanks.

"Now, Tonbo, when you are finished, you are to escape outside of the village walls and as far as you can make it. Complete your cover mission and return when it is done. You and Sasuke will be the only remaining Uchiha. Sasuke will be the heir to the clan, but until he makes chunin rank, you will be standing head of the Uchiha clan and will be required in all council meetings. This means you will have to step down from the anbu. Do you accept this mission?" Hiruzen asked carefully.

He knew Karasu would accept the mission. Karasu trusted Tonbo completely and Hiruzen could not deny his shinobi record. It was completely spotless and the sign of a true shinobi.

"Yes Hokage-sama." Was his response and Hiruzen let go of a breath he did not know he was holding.

"Very well. Karasu, these are instructions as to what to do when you leave the village. You must escape on your own and be spotted in your escape to solidify yourself as the culprit. Tonbo, this will be your mask to wear upon your return to the village." Hiruzen said before handing Karasu a small scroll and Tonbo a blank white mask.

"This mission will begin as soon as you both deem fit. The cover mission for you Tonbo will be open until you are ready. The day you accept the mission, I will know it is underway and will retire early as I have been for the last week. If an emergency signal goes off, it might buy you an extra minute. Use it wisely." Hiruzen said before putting his pipe down on his desk.

"This is for the future of the village. Failure will result in a full civil war that we can not afford. That is all, and for what it is worth. I am sorry." Hiruzen said sadly before Karasu and Tonbo walked out of his office.

Hiruzen criticized his plan over and over again after they left. He had not been able to find any other solutions and he prayed he never did. The feeling of find out he could have solved this differently would be a fear he did not want to face any time soon.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Night had fallen over the Uchiha district as yet another council meeting was coming up. The Uchiha had a council built of their top shinobi and influential clan mates throughout the village.

There was one civilian among then and he was in charge of the civilian side of the Uchiha Police Force. His counterpart was the head of the shinobi dealings in the force and they were both walking with three other members to the meeting.

These five men were currently under Tonbo's gen-jutsu and were opposed to the coup after much thought. At least that was how the felt.

When the meeting came underway it brought a frown to Fugaku's face when he heard concerns about following through with the coup. It had been a unanimous decision for the last few years of preparation and now, with only two days to go, there were five members that felt like backing out.

When asked why, they brought up points like win or lose, the loss of manpower would cripple the village. Also who would follow a man who had betrayed his hokage. It was not a good enough example and they would be left in charge of a broken village.

Fugaku was not sure what to do anymore. The members opposed to the idea were very high up in the council and had almost as much pull as him. Almost.

He decided to put his foot down and call them out and force them to go with the plan under threat of banishment and death. Tonbo's gen-jutsu was very powerful but was not absolute. Slowly, they broke under the pressure and their Uchiha pride managed to break the gen-jutsu.

None of them knew they were under a gen-jutsu and never said anything about it. Tonbo had never told anyone of his prowess with his sharingan and it was a gen-jutsu that hadn't been seen in years.

Fugaku ended the meeting with the vote still siding with the coup and starting in two days time with the assassination of the hokage by Fugaku's hand.

Itachi had been part of the meeting as the highest ranked anbu Uchiha. He sighed internally when the decision had been made. He had thought of openly siding with the five men Tonbo had tried to swing to their side.

Being Fugaku's prodigy son might have prevented him from threatening banishment. In the end, Itachi saw how pointless it would be and did not bother blowing his cover. It would make his mission that much harder.

Two days time. Itachi understood that meant that there was no more hope left to save the Uchiha clan. Everyone had been called back from and withheld from missions so every Uchiha was in the Uchiha district for the next two days.

They were very isolated and that meant there would be no innocents in the district tomorrow night. The call had been made to conserve their strength and get plenty of rest the night before. That would put everyone in bed earlier and made the slaughter even easier.

There would only be a few guards roaming on that night. Tonbo had accepted that he would be the one to take the guards out while Karasu was killing the clan head and his wife. They would meet up in the house as Karasu would hopefully be acclimating to his new found eyes.

The raw emotion of watching your loved ones die should awaken his eyes. The clan head and his wife may not be loved as much by Karasu, but doing the deed himself should make it enough.

The next day had come and dark was approaching. Tonbo had went to the hokage tower and gotten the cover mission from the hokage first thing in the morning. It was an A-rank assassination mission all of the way in Iwa. It was a minimum of a three week mission but being a solo mission that called for him specifically, it was expected to take a full month. He was ordered to leave within the hour.

Tonbo took the mission and gave the hokage a deep bow before exiting. The anbu in the wall saw the exchange and only understood a fellow anbu accepting an A-rank mission that would take at least three weeks.

Anbu were typically kept away from anbu mission reports, but when a mission was given, they were told to observe the exchange. There had been a few times when a mission would be sent out with a team and they abandoned the mission and faced no punishment because they destroyed the record. This way, all missions had at least three witnesses and all three of them could testify to the objectives of the missions instead of waiting for a reply from the contract dealer.

After Tonbo left the hokage sighed internally and once more prayed he had made the right decision. Back in the Uchiha district late that night. Two shadows looked upon the district with focused eyes.

"Are you ready Tonbo?" Karasu asked. "Yes Karasu. With our actions tonight, the Uchiha honor might finally be restored." Tonbo replied.

They both nodded to each other and disappeared. Tonbo made quick work of the guards that were out in the district. They had a set pattern and never truly deviated from it. This made them predictable and easy targets. Tonbo was also widely considered the fastest Uchiha alive and made true that boast.

While Tonbo was taking care of the guards, Karasu casually walked into his own home. He took a turn at his room and continued on to his parents room. A lesser man might have paused at the door, but Karasu soundlessly continued through the door.

Karasu had a perfect control over his emotions as he looked down at his targets. He withdrew his tanto without a sound and effortlessly slit both of their throats. He had never given his father reason to not trust him and now it had paid off. He had let his guard down in the safety of his own home thinking his family was all loyal to the Uchiha name. He was wrong.

Karasu barely got his tanto back in the sheath before a new surge of chakra flowed to his eyes and made his vision turn white for a moment. He dropped to his knee in pain and forced his eyes closed. He stayed like this for a few seconds before he felt a comforting hand on his shoulder.

He had felt Tonbo enter the room so he did not turn and attack him. He could tell the hand on his shoulder was a notion of understanding and had helped him take his focus off the pain in his eyes. It was about a minute later than the pain started to leave and the white left his vision.

He stood and looked and Tonbo with his mangekyou sharingan for the first time. Tonbo blinked for a moment after seeing that his was different from his own.

"It seems your mangekyou sharingan looks different than mine. I wonder if the abilities are different?" Tonbo mused as he produced a mirror for Karasu.

Karasu nodded as he admired his new eyes before blinking and having them revert back to normal and blinking and having them change back.

Tonbo nodded at how quickly Karasu had managed to control his new eyes and they both disappeared once more. They met zero resistance in their mission until Karasu met up with the elder of the clan.

"Are you the one to end my life Itachi-kun?" The elder asked quietly. He had not seen him enter and he surely did not hear him.

"How were you aware of my intentions elder?" He replied back cautiously. "I can feel the cold of death upon me. The time has finally come for our clan to pay for our sins, hasn't it?" The elder asked once more turning to look at Itachi.

He just nodded in reply. "Will there be any survivors?" The elder asked one last time. Itachi just replied with a small nod.

The elder dropped down to his knees and bowed as far as his old body would let him. "I pray our sins will be forgiven in the afterlife. I have failed our clan and was unable to stop the decent into darkness. I thank you for your generosity in not ending our clan entirely. I ask for one last honor from you Itachi-kun." The elder lamented before he removed a small sword from his side.

Without pause, he plunged the sword into his own stomach and pulled it from the left side to the right. Karasu was slightly surprised that the elder would choose seppuku to regain his honor. He nodded at the man and swiftly decapitated him with his tanto, leaving behind a thin strip of flesh so that his head would not fall off.

He sheathed his tanto and bowed to the elder offering a short prayer for the man hoping he found peace in the afterlife. The elder had been the last person he needed to kill and the regret he had for killing his clan was slightly eased at how the man accepted his fate and brought back what honor he could to the clan.

Karasu stepped out of the elders home and stood in the middle of the road. Tonbo met up with him shortly and they both nodded. They stood quietly for a moment, fully accepting what they had done.

It was a minute later that they heard a gut wrenching scream coming from the clan head home. "That must be Sasuke-kun. Tonbo, stay safe and teach him to be a proper shinobi." Karasu said. "I will, don't die making your escape." Tonbo said. He gave Karasu a firm pat on the shoulder before he faded from sight.

Karasu blinked as he actually managed to see Tonbo leave. His old sharingan had never been able to see anything other than him vanishing out of sight. Actually seeing that he had indeed used a normal shunshin was impressive to say the least.

He did not have long to be impressed as Sasuke ran out of the house screaming until he saw Karasu standing in the road. "Brother!" Sasuke yelled running at him as fast as he could until he saw that he was covered in blood.

"Why are you covered in blood? What happened? Who killed mother and father?" Sasuke asked in quick succession. Karasu looked down at his brother and simply told him that he killed everyone to test his power.

Sasuke shook his head in denial before Karasu looked him in the eyes and managed to use tsukuyomi on him. It took all of his self control to not seem surprised at the gen-jutsu he had used. He was trying to use gen-jutsu to scare Sasuke but managed to use tsukuyomi on instinct.

He realized he had full control of the world around him and swiftly built their compound and put them in their parents room. He made a copy of their parents and himself and made Sasuke watch him slit their throats over and over again.

"You will never forget this sight. They died because they were too weak. This entire clan was too weak and too blinded by their pride in their sharingan. They were beyond salvation so I ended them." Karasu said as he let the gen-jutsu drop.

Sasuke swayed twice before he fell to his knees, vomited, and screamed as hard as he could. An anbu walking near the edge of the compound had saw that there were no guards stationed at the gate and had poked his head inside.

Moments later, he heard Sasuke scream and started to stealthily make his way toward the scream. He stumbled across one of the guards he commonly saw standing watch, his throat cut wide open. He called the murder in and met a full squad at the front gate seconds later.

The four man squad rushed through the area just in time to see Karasu give Sasuke a quick chop to the back of the neck to knock him out. "What have you done here Karasu?" The most senior member of the anbu squad asked.

"I killed my clan to test my strength. Their foolishness in hiding behind the sharingan had made them too weak to stop me." Karasu said simply.

One of the anbu drew their tanto and tried to tell him to stand down. He was met with Karasu charging into the group. Or at least, that is what they thought was happening. Karasu had substituted with an exploding clone before they arrived and detonated him before he got within lethal range. The four anbu were tossed back but relatively unhurt.

When they opened their eyes again they saw Karasu gone. They split up to find him but he was already long gone.

The hokage had been woken up by his anbu when word that Karasu had betrayed the village and slaughtered the Uchiha clan. He showed his surprise and anger convincingly and hurried to get dressed in his battle armor.

It was a full minute but it was one extra minute he gave Karasu to get out of the country. He went with his anbu to begin the search. It was an hour later when they decided he had escaped the village and Hiruzen sent a few anbu squads to look for him with orders to be brought back alive for interrogation.

Upon finishing the search of the village, Hiruzen met with the medical staff in the Uchiha district checking for survivors. There were none and Hiruzen was shocked to see that several eyes were ripped out of some high ranking Uchiha.

"Where are some of these people's eyes?" He asked forcefully. "Hokage-sama, we have not removed any of their eyes, this is how we found them in their homes." Dr. Alda said as he walked over to Hiruzen.

"Well Dr. Alda, can you tell me if you think that they were taken before or after they were killed?" Hiruzen asked. "I would say within an hour of their death. Most have been dead for at least an hour however so I couldn't tell you." The doctor explained.

"I see, I will let you get back to it then. However, remove, document, and preserve the remaining eyes. It would be a waste to leave them to rot." Hiruzen said darkly. Dr. Alda just nodded and got back to work. He had been ordered to do worse after all.

Hiruzen continued to wander around the district, appearing to be distressed. It was a bit forced but still at least a little genuine. He saw Sasuke being attended to, he seemed to be unconscious but very much alive. That much was good. He also did not see a body of Tonbo or hear reports of a second suspect. More good news.

He finally allowed himself to release the breath he had been holding all this time. Their mission was a complete success and he may be able to rest easily tonight. No more coup, no more council hostility. He was also not a stupid man to believe that the slaughter would go unnoticed by the other countries.

They were now missing one of their strongest clans and the enemy may not let them get away free with that. He expected there to be a bit of commotion in the coming months and he would need to scramble some men to put up a strong front.

He just prayed it would not affect the new genin coming from the academy. He had seen what happens when genin are put on the front lines and the loss of life was not something he would enjoy ordering. He felt bad not being able to be on the front lines anymore. He had been a big stick to wave at enemies to keep them at bay in his prime.

Hiruzen was mentally going through the current shinobi he had at his disposal. He knew Kakashi and Gai were both nearing S-rank status and he might need to push them to break that barrier. His son Asuma was still at the fire temple, Kurenai was still too fresh of a jonin to be able to put in charge of a large force either.

He had strong ninja, there was no denying that. What he needed was strong leaders in this coming time. Kakashi was the only choice that really stuck out in the anbu as well as Tonbo for jonin he would have. He would have to bring back the hokage guard platoon and get them to start advanced training as well.

If peace failed, he would want the best as his guards and those three were very skilled. There were however still only chunin and he would need elite jonin if trouble were to break out. He might have to accelerate the retraining of some of Danzo's old men as well. Not a great prospect. Tenzo had shown promise with the retraining so it would have to work for the others.

There will be some arguing with the council after all is said and done. He was going to have to take the old Ino-Shika-Cho team out of reserve and put them back in the front lines again. Times like this was making him wish Hizashi was still around. He would be a great asset in this coming times.

Letters would go out to the blacksmiths around the village to start mass production as well as retraining for reserve units that had been inactive for the last few years. He may also push to get more medics trained as well. Tsunade had always said a medic per team would lower casualty rates and she was correct.

He thought on the idea of offering her the position as head trainer of the medical arts but she would probably not return for such a request. He would send Jiraya with a message regardless. The village would need combat medics and they had a few years yet before there would be full war if it were to come around. He almost considered asking Dr. Alda to teach but he already knew that was far less likely than Tsunade.

Alda however may be willing to give a few anbu a crash course in field surgery. Maybe if he called it meatball surgery Alda would go for it. Hiruzen almost chuckled when he thought back on when he first heard that saying but remembered where he was.

After overseeing the cleanup of the Uchiha district, Hiruzen once more set back to retire for the evening. He would have to put Itachi in the bingo books and was a little concerned what to put. If he put kill on sight Itachi may end up killing any men that went after him. A flee on sight order might be better but would not make it past the council.

In the end, Hiruzen was planning on a do not engage alone tag and hoped it would also deter enemy ninja as well. A small smirk came to mind, maybe I will put a large bounty and have the enemy nations kill themselves over trying to claim it. Itachi was easily S-rank and he had no doubt that anyone short of a large anbu squad or a kage trying to kill him would fail easily.

Maybe putting a bounty on him after Tonbo returned so he could be the one to place the bounty would be best. He would put a large bounty and make it seem like it is from the survivors of the Uchiha clan. That would keep the enemy villages away for a short while.

Tonbo could also put a much larger bounty than he could. Going from a large clan to two members overnight tended to leave some money behind. It might also ease little Sasuke's mind a bit knowing everything that could be done to avenge their clan was being done.

Hiruzen kept thinking about little Sasuke. The Uchiha had always been a clan driven by hatred and pride. If he was consumed with hatred it could be a major problem for the future of the Uchiha clan. He prayed that Tonbo would be able to keep his hatred under control. He would have to step in if he could not.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

The academy had been rather quiet for the last week. Everyone was wondering where Sasuke was. Everyone heard that he would be returning and everyone was curious as to why he was gone.

Iruka had heard the news of the Uchiha massacre but he was told to not tell the kids. He knew the kids would hound the Uchiha heir about why he was gone and he did not see this day going well. He decided he should get another cup of coffee before he started class.

He had really enjoyed his class and usually would sit in earlier than most teachers. Most would come in when it was time to start but he would rather answer any questions his class had from yesterday before class started. Today however, he would rather get the extra cup of coffee.

When Iruka stepped out the class erupted into a frenzy of excitement. Many of Sasuke's fangirls were buzzing about why he had been gone. One girl thought he must have gotten hurt training too much and stayed home. Another was saying that he was just too cool to come to school all the time.

Naruto and Tenten could really care less. He was a prick and they didn't like his attitude. They were both hard working shinobi in training and those that got coddled and cooed made them sick. Ino, Shikamaru and Choji were all heirs to a clan and none of them had the same air of blind pride in their clans. They didn't let their lineage go to their heads like Sasuke had.

When Sasuke finally entered the classroom, everyone knew they were wrong. He came in with an air or loss around him. Naruto and Tenten could both see it plain as day. Neko had come back like that once when she lost a member of her team. Someone close to Sasuke was definitely dead. They just hoped it wasn't Itachi.

Sakura was the first one by his side hugging him and telling him how much she had missed him. Ino got up to go comfort him as well but was pulled back by Naruto. "He lost someone dear to him." was all he said and Ino quit struggling. Ino looked back at him and could tell he was pretty messed up. He wasn't fighting the girls swarming him. Not even a little.

He was just there. Most of the girls didn't see this and only saw how close they could get to the Uchiha. They were pulling him every which way and trying to get their arms further around him. A few managed to get a peck on his cheek before Naruto finally had enough.

"Enough." He yelled from his chair. He stood and walked to the group of girls that were just staring at him like he was growing a second head. He grabbed Sakura by the shoulder and threw her back and grabbed Sasuke's arm and dragged him to where he usually sat.

By this time Choji, Shikamaru, Tenten and Ino managed to get in the way of the girls as Naruto sat Sasuke down. "What happened Sasuke, who did you lose?" Naruto asked calmly. "Everyone." Sasuke replied meekly.

Naruto blinked in confusion. "What do you mean everyone?" He asked, still talking slowly and calmly. "The Uchiha clan is gone." Sasuke replied once more not looking up at Naruto. "Who could have killed them all?" Naruto asked mostly to himself. Sasuke slammed his fist into his desk. His hand dripping with blood from forming his fist to tight. "Itachi." He spat out.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

 **Well that is a wrap. Leaving out Naruto's reaction because I can't really think of anymore cliffhangers to leave at the end there.**

 **Tell me what you think, I still kept the Uchiha slaughter in there but did it a bit different. I did not really believe the whole, Obito coming around to help Itachi kill the clan. Instead he stayed closer to his father so he never had a reason to doubt him and let his guard down.**

 **Itachi also getting his mangekyo sharingan by killing his parents seemed a better way than just watching Shisui's suicide. Another kind of weird thing I did not like about cannon.**

 **I have Tonbo avoid Danzo in this story because I always thought that was a cheap way to kill off a character that had so much potential. So as of now, Danzo does not have a mangekyo sharingan in this fic anymore.**

 **Outside of this story, I should hopefully be posting a second Naruto fic that should be a fairly long one in the coming few weeks. As always, this is my first story and will always be my focus until this one is complete.**

 **I have also been playing with the idea of making a few one shots. I have a lot of ideas I want to write up but some of them I do not think I can not pass 100k words so they are not really long enough for me to want to do in multiple chapters.**

 **If a story is a one shot I will of course label it as such and state it as complete at the first chapter. This is a chapter I kind of needed a long notes section at the end and I'm sorry about that. Trying not to do this too often but there is quite a lot happening at once so wanting to clear up any confusion before it gets started.**

 **Anyway, see you next chapter, hope you liked it.**


	12. Chapter 12

**All right now, finally back for another chapter of Trust By My Side. We have been busy in the Kik chat #TrustByMySide and have been kicking up some new ideas.**

 **One of my favorite ideas that I am going to be getting started eventually is a fanfiction that is built around everyone that wants to put an OC in the story. Everyone will have a say in how their character interacts with other characters and how they train.**

 **With this idea, it is possible for anyone interested to put forth a character and I would be able to push them into the story. After a certain point, I would have to cut off new people from joining but that wouldn't be for a while.**

 **That would be a huge project and would require everyone to pitch in a bit to make the writing a bit easier but I look forward to how it will work out.**

 **Until then, let's just get right into Chapter 12 of Trust By My Side.**

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

"Itachi killed your clan?" Naruto repeated back to Sasuke quietly. His mind was going a million miles per hour with that bit of information. 'There is no way that Itachi could have done such a thing.' Naruto tried to assure himself before he heard Sasuke speak up again, this time shouting it.

"That bastard killed them all. I was the only survivor and I shouldn't have even made it." He shouted, nothing but pure anger in his voice. Everyone got quite when they heard that. Tenten had heard everything and she was in just as much shock as Naruto.

They had both respected Itachi as the definition of a perfect shinobi. He had taught them almost everything they knew about the shinobi lifestyle and it was a hard pill to swallow that he just killed everyone in his clan.

Both her and Naruto knew that Itachi was ashamed of his clan, but to kill them all seemed extreme to the kids. The more they thought about it though, the more they realized that Itachi was correct in saying they relied too much on their sharingan. If Itachi could have killed them all by himself, he truly was an amazing ninja.

While they might not have agreed on him killing so many allied ninja, the strength it would have taken to complete such a task was not deniable. They came to realize that he was still their role model, just not completely anymore.

They were both snapped out of their thoughts when Ino, Shikamaru and Choji got over ran and the fan girls tossed Naruto and Tenten out of the way as well. They all latched onto Sasuke and tried to comfort him. This only caused him to hate them all the more. It was at this moment that Iruka came back into the classroom and ordered everyone back to their seats.

Class continued on like that for the next few weeks. Whenever Iruka was away, the fan girls would swarm Sasuke and try to comfort him. He had shouted at them a few times but they would never listen. This would keep up until Iruka finally had enough.

"That is enough." He shouted loud enough to get everyone's attention. "All of this fan girl attitude will end today. If any of you girls are seen slacking off in your studies to try and gain the affection of a boy, you will be stricken from the program at once. That goes for you boys trying to show off for the girls as well. You are training to be shinobi, you are not here to try and get a significant other. Am I understood?" Iruka asked forcefully.

"Yes Iruka-sensei." Was the unanimous call from the classroom. "Good, with that out of the way let's get back to training." Iruka called out.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

It was now just a month after the Uchiha Massacre as it was being called. Tonbo had returned from his mission and was currently standing before the council to give his report. Normally it would not require the council's attention, but he was the only other Uchiha survivor and they needed to give him his new responsibilities as stand in head of the Uchiha clan.

"That is my report Hokage-sama." Tonbo finished with a bow. "Excellent work as always Tonbo. Now, for the second reason you are here. You will be taken out of the anbu core and reinstated as a jonin. This comes with your station as stand in head of the Uchiha clan until Sasuke Uchiha reaches Chunin rank. Do you accept your new orders?" Hiruzen asked.

"Yes Hokage-sama." Tonbo said with another bow. "Then, remove your mask Tonbo, you will be hereby be given back your given name of Shisui Uchiha." The hokage said as more of a show for the council more than anything.

The meeting only went on for another few minutes before everyone was released. It was a formality and courtesy more than anything. Shisui had needed to know what everyone thought happened that night. He also needed to be present for what the council talked about his return.

There was no longer only one Uchiha in the village, and that was a big deal for the council. There were instantly a few offers of wedding contracts from the civilian side of the council. Hiruzen shut them down quickly as it was highly inappropriate and disruptive to the meeting.

Everything else went smooth. The council accepted his position as stand in head of the Uchiha. Hiruzen smiled to himself with how everything turned out. With Shisui in charge, the Uchiha may get a more honorable name going forward. That was for the future to decide however.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

The following week in the academy was a bit unnerving to Naruto and Tenten. Sasuke had gotten the news that there was a survivor of the massacre and rushed home to meet the survivor. He returned the next day just as bad off as he had been the day before.

Naruto and Tenten did not actively ask Sasuke what happened, but what he could hear from the girls that were still around was that the survivor was an impostor. He lacked proper Uchiha pride and stature as Sasuke so elegantly put it. He had also been more saddened at the loss of Itachi that the rest of the clan. That instantly put him on Sasuke's shit list.

Naruto and Tenten thought that would be a good thing overall however. Itachi had talked about one of his friends before he had entered the anbu. He was the primary reason Itachi even joined the anbu. They had heard enough stories of Uchiha arrogance that a humble Uchiha was welcome in their books.

They were snapped back to the front of the class as Iruka walked in. "Well class, today marks two months you have been in the academy. While we have lost a few members along the way, I am very proud of everyone's scores to this point." Iruka said with pride in his voice. The few people they lost were hopeless fan girls and were taken out of the class.

"Being as we have finished our first two months, we will be having an exam and field day to go over everything you have learned so far. This will be a heavily valued score that will stay in your record until you graduate. It will be a mark on your growth as a shinobi." Iruka explained as he handed out some exams.

"The first part, is written work. It is similar to your first day examinations and we will have one just like this every two months. You have until the lunch bell rings to finish all of the exam. Be thorough and do not miss anything. Raise your hand when you are done and I will gather your papers. Your time starts now." Iruka finished before taking a seat at his desk and watching his students.

Shikamaru was the first to finish his exam by over an hour, just as Iruka expected. The last to finish his test was Naruto. Iruka quirked his head at that. Naruto had finished most of his class work rather quickly most of the time. Being the last to finish made Iruka curious.

"All right everyone, head out for lunch and meet out in the training ground after lunch." Iruka said as he dismissed everyone. He held Naruto back before he got out the door though.

"Naruto, why did you take so long on your exam? You are usually done with any class work much faster than that." Iruka asked. "Well you said we had until the lunch bell went off so I took my time to make sure to answer as accurately as possible." Naruto explained.

Iruka sent him on his way to lunch as he went to check over the tests. He started with Naruto's and had to agree that Naruto did a fine job. It was not a perfect score but his attention to details would be worth extra credit if he graded it that way. He just nodded and kept going.

Iruka met everyone outside and decided to keep track of Naruto. He was there moments before the next bell had rang and he assumed he used as much time as he was allowed again. "Well, now it is time for the physical part of the tests. We will start with target practice and move onto a run. After your timed run, everyone will spar with random opponents and I will be keeping track of how everyone does." Iruka explained.

Everyone lined up and got ready for the throwing tests. The results were no real surprise. Tenten got a perfect score in the fastest time. Sasuke came in second and Naruto was just behind him. Iruka nodded and wrote down the results. Everyone moved to the track and began their run.

Once again the results were fairly standard. Naruto and Tenten lapped everyone and finished before anyone else. Sasuke was furious that he gotten third and everyone else was just happy to be done with the run. Sparing came and Sasuke got paired up with Tenten.

He was seething and being shown up by a woman twice in the same day and he was going to prove he was the superior fighter. At least that was how it happened in his head. Tenten had sparred with Itachi quite a bit before he defected. While he slowed down a ton, she was still familiar with the Interceptor Fist style the Uchiha prided themselves with.

Sasuke started the fight by trying to insult Tenten and telling her a woman could never beat the heir of the Uchiha clan. Tenten just ignored him and slipped into her first stance. Sasuke continued with the insults and mocking but Tenten just stared him down. Itachi pounded into their heads that an angry opponent was an easy opponent. She thought she would just taunt him and get him to charge recklessly by stating that Itachi had taught her better than to fall for lame taunts like that.

Sasuke didn't know yet, but his major flaw was the style required the sharingan to be most effective and he did not have it yet. Tenten was a fast, and form perfect fighter. She had been learning from anbu level shinobi for the last few years and she was very good with her execution. There was not many wasted movements, but she was still on academy beginner style. She had dabbled into the intermediate academy style and that gave her enough of an edge to beat out Sasuke when he charged right at her in his enraged state.

Iruka nodded in approval. He could tell that Sasuke was letting his emotions get in the way of his form and Tenten punished him for it. While he didn't approve of using such methods in a friendly spar, he still marked down that it was a one sided fight.

After she beat Sasuke, her and Naruto defeated the rest of their opponents with ease. Naruto had gotten paired up with Hinata and she looked like she was going to faint. Naruto gave her some encouragement and it was enough to send her over the edge and she fainted as soon as the match started.

Naruto looked back to Tenten and she just shrugged. When he glanced at Naruto he just sighed and gave him the win. With all of the testing done, Iruka sent everyone home so they could get plenty of rest for the next days trip through the wringer.

He started going through the results and were pleased at how everyone was advancing steadily. The most noticeable were Naruto, Tenten, Shikamaru, Ino and Choji. Those five seemed to be focusing the most on their studies and it was showing.

They all did above average in the written test and none of them lost a fight in spars. They all shortened their run time by a nice margin and when he thought about it, none of them removed their weights when they did so. He would have to ask them about that tomorrow.

If they had their weights on zero after they got them on, he would punish them dearly. He highly doubted it based on their improvements but it wouldn't be the first time a student thought they could skip out of their training by putting their weights on zero. He had gotten rid of students for doing just that in the past.

He went through their current milestones and saw that Tenten was on par to beat the kunai time and accuracy record in no time. She probably wouldn't beat the overall record as Itachi had it in less that one second, but she could beat the first two year records as Itachi had skipped them.

She was talented enough to skip two years in the academy based on her kunai throwing and physical strength alone. He was both disappointed in her lack of drive and proud of her concern for her future. She would get extra training by staying behind as well as helping those close to her succeed.

Naruto was a similar case. He was fast, strong and smart. His scores weren't quite as high but he seemed to be catching up quickly. He showed the attitude of a shinobi when he was taking the lead in conversations about peoples strengths and weaknesses. He never talked in a harsh tone, merely trying to help those close to him succeed.

They both had that charisma about them and if they weren't so young, Iruka could have mistaken their attitude for chunin. He smirked at that a bit. They both have the talent to graduate quickly, but their attitude showed they would probably stay all six years. He felt pretty safe in that guess.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Four more months had passed since their second exam and everyone was just now heading home after their fourth exam. Everyone was still improving on their basics and Iruka had told the class that tomorrow they would be taking the next step in chakra control as well as going through their weights to check how far everyone had come.

They all tossed out guesses as to what their next exercise would be. Most just assumed it would be focusing on two leafs or something stupid. They all looked over each others weights to see where they got in the last six months at the academy.

Naruto and Tenten were both at twenty pounds on each arm and leg. Choji had twenty five on each as he was building up muscle not going for speed. Shikamaru and Ino were both still on fifteen teach. They all nodded happily and guess they could go up another five pounds by the end of the month easily.

Naruto and Tenten were still keeping their routine of waking up an hour early to work out on classroom days and were still running a few extra miles a day on their way to the academy. They thought about it and both thought that was probably why they were at least five pounds ahead of everyone still. Well, except Choji but he was always strong.

They all almost laughed when they saw Sasuke's face when Iruka called out his name and he called back he was at fifteen pounds on each limb. He was smirking as most of the other kids were still on ten pounds. When he heard that he was still behind Naruto and Tenten he looked furious.

Iruka just smiled, he had asked Naruto and Tenten about their weights after their two month exams. Both said they didn't adjust their weights during the run or spars because they didn't know they were supposed to. They were just getting to fifteen pounds a limb a few weeks later and Iruka could tell when they did.

Iruka was pleased that he had a few students that fully understood what training was supposed to entail and he could see how their friends were adopting similar attitudes shortly there after. He would have to tell them to slow down so they didn't stunt their growth with excess weight.

With their weights recorded, he sent everyone outside for the next lesson. He was going to start them on tree climbing early as everyone had mastered leaf sticking by now. He gave the class a demonstration and he recommended that everyone take a running start first.

Everyone had a kunai to mark their place and everyone took off. Sasuke smirked when he was that he had made it further than Naruto and Tenten on his first try. From his eyes, they gave up after one try and stopped to talk to his friends.

Naruto, Tenten, Ino, Shikamaru and Choji were all sitting in a small circle as they watched a few people try a few more times. Shikamaru noticed that the more aggressive people in their class, namely Sasuke and Kiba, were blasting chunks off of the trees when they dropped down. The more subtle people, Hinata and Shino, were simply losing traction.

He guessed that there was a set amount of chakra needed to stick and too much you would break the tree, too little you would just slide. Everyone looked and saw how their first try went. Ino, Shikamaru and Tenten had all slid down while Naruto, and Choji put a dent in their tree.

All of them nodded and tried again this time doubling their previous distance before having to drop. They once again met up and talked for a few minutes before trying again. Iruka smiled at them as he could hear their conversations. Everyone else was trying over and over again making very little progress as they went.

Those five had stopped, analyzed what they knew and how well they preformed before coming up with a plan to fix their mistakes. Iruka had said they would be out here for the rest of the day, about four more hours, and he was pleased with how they were using their time.

It was only an hour in and Naruto had finally managed to run to a high branch without falling off and everyone was pleased. They had all made it now and they saw that only one other person had made it to the top. It surprised everyone to see Sakura sitting on a high branch as well, even though she seemed out of breath.

They all sat and talked for a moment, they guessed she must just have next to no chakra to learn it so fast and be that out of breath. They looked around a bit to see how everyone was doing. They noticed that Sasuke was barely making any progress, he seemed angry so it was probably just his anger stopping him from improving.

They saw Kiba complaining loudly about how stupid it was. They instantly discarded the thought of helping him since he wouldn't even ask for advice. They saw Shino try, get a fair bit higher than his previous attempt before sliding down and stopping for a moment and meditating.

They instantly realized that he was trying to keep his breathing level and his focus sharp. They saw Hinata taking similar steps to keep herself focused and they split up to offer assistance.

"Shino-san." Naruto called out after Shino stood up from his meditation. "Yes Naruto-san, did you need something?" Shino asked back. "Nope, we just thought we would offer you what helped us climb faster." Naruto said back with a smile.

Shino quirked an eyebrow. "That would be greatly appreciated but does that mean you have already completed the exercise?" Shino asked. Shikamaru stepped up and told him that they had all done it. Shino just nodded and the group gave him a few tips and after a few tries he had gained over a foot up the tree and he thanked them as they went to give Hinata the same advice.

Hinata improved as much as Shino and nearly fainted after Naruto congratulated her on her improvements. Fortunately he had already turned back to the trees they had been assigned so he didn't see her blush.

They had made it back to their area and saw everyone else had gotten a bit of help from Iruka and seemed to be doing fine. They approached him and asked him if there was another step. Iruka just smiled as he had seen their progress and how they helped their fellow students.

"Well, not really another step, but you can try walking up the tree instead of running. You will have to use chakra through your body to strengthen your ankles, legs and back so you don't pull anything." Iruka explained.

Everyone nodded and agreed and started walking back toward the trees. Naruto however was frozen as if someone had just slapped him in the face. He gave his right arm a few experimental lifts before he channeled chakra through his arm and tried lifting it again.

With just how much chakra Naruto put into it, the sudden increase in strength caused him to pop his shoulder out of socket. He screamed in pain and crumpled to the ground. Iruka came over and asked what had happened.

"I put chakra into my arm and lifted it. I guess I overdid it thought and I popped my arm out of socket." Naruto said as he scratched the back of his head with his other arm. "Well, I can pop it back in for you but it's going to hurt." Iruka explained as he pulled out a kunai. He put the handle to Naruto's mouth and told him to bite it so he wouldn't scream as loud.

Naruto nodded and bit down as Iruka popped his shoulder back in place. Naruto bit the kunai handle as hard as he could so he wouldn't scream and sighed after a few seconds when the pain subsided. He gave Iruka back his kunai and moved his arm a bit to shake out the pain.

As Iruka went to put the kunai back in his holster, he noticed that were actual bite marks in the steel. He covered his shock but he was rather amazed Naruto didn't break any of his teeth with how hard he had to have bit down on it.

Iruka just added it to the incredible things Naruto was sure to do in the future. He had told Naruto to just try and carefully strengthen his body before he tried climbing trees like that. He didn't want him to shatter his knee or something after all.

Everyone else managed to get up the tree at a brisk walk by the end of class as they were all rather pleased with how it felt to channel chakra through their body. Naruto had been focusing on strengthening his muscles with chakra for the entire time and it was taking less focus than before.

As the bell rang, he decided to try and walk home with his weights set to fifty pounds and use chakra to even out the difference. He found it to take a bit of focus but he had to admit it felt good. When they finally got home, he took the weights off completely and let his muscles relax as he cut the flow of chakra. It was weird but he felt a lot more sore than he would usually get from running that far with his normal weights on.

Him and Tenten talked about it for a bit and after she tried, she noticed she could bump her weights to about forty pounds before the focus of channeling the chakra made it hard to exercise. They tried sparring with chakra through their bodies until Naruto caught Tenten's arm and threw her halfway across the compound. They decided to put that off until they could control their chakra better.

They both settled on keeping their weights at forty pounds during their morning workouts and set them back to twenty during school. They needed to focus during school and reasoned Iruka would be mad if they weren't paying attention.

Hearing the commotion outside, Yugao came out to see what was getting them excited. "Learn something good at the academy today?" She asked them. "Yeah, we learned how to strengthen our muscles with chakra. I have so much I popped my arm out of socket when I tried it." Naruto said proudly before Tenten slapped him on the back of the head.

"You need to learn moderation." She scolded as Yugao went over to check his arm. "Well your shoulder is fine. Your sensei put it back properly at least." Yugao said with a sigh. "You should have tried using less chakra the first time you tried it though."

"Not you too Ba-chan." Naruto lamented as they both scolded him. Everyone laughed at that as they went to sit by the pond. They just chatted for a while as Tenten and Yugao teased Naruto some more.

Yugao gave them a few more pointers and decided to go ahead and show them that they could walk on water after they fully mastered tree walking. They both stood in awe as they saw Yugao hop onto the surface of the pond.

Naruto was about to jump after her but she stopped him. "Naruto, this isn't a basic skill. You have to change your chakra output constantly so you don't sink. I would completely master tree walking first. Until you can easily walk upside down on a tree without thinking about it, you would just be wasting your time." Yugao explained.

Naruto just sighed. It was only his first day of real chakra manipulation and he wanted to take on the world. "I understand." Naruto said a bit dejectedly.

"Relax Naruto-kun, you still have five years in the academy. You will most likely learn how to water walk in your third year. Till then, focus on the basics and you will be surprised how far they take you." Yugao explained.

Naruto grinned at that. "If we are going to learn it in our third year, I will just have to have mastered it before then." Tenten and Yugao just quietly sighed. They both knew he wouldn't let go of that anytime soon so they just let him be.

Everyone finally settled down for the night and planned out what they were going to tomorrow. It was going to be a friday and they had a weekend to train. Tenten remembered the bet she had with Higurashi and told Naruto that they should go restock on equipment.

They had gotten their second allowance from the academy and reasoned they might as well get some new gear. Tenten pulled out the set of kunai that Higurashi had sold her. They were jonin quality and near top of the line. The only way they could have been better would have been if they were made with chakra steel.

Chakra steel kunai being highly impractical but some anbu had at least a pair of them depending on their fighting style. 2,500 ryo and they really didn't even need to re-supply. Tenten's set were still in immaculate condition. The only real noticeable difference was the sharpened edges were a bit more uneven than they were out of the store and the leather grip had worn down and replaced with a durable cloth instead.

Naruto's set was pretty close to the same quality. His were a bit more worn down as they were lower quality. Despite that, he had taken care of them far more than any of the other genin would have. It had been six months and he was still using the same dozen kunai from the start of the academy. Iruka had commented on it a while ago and Naruto just shrugged and said it was wasteful to neglect his weapons and could cost him his life further into his career.

Iruka had been rather pleased with that answer as he had looked around and saw several of the students getting replacements after a few months. He never said anything but he was a bit disappointed.

Their next day went by quickly. They spent a little time on tree climbing and they went back to the classroom part of the class. Went they finally got out of the door, Naruto and Tenten rushed to Higurashi Weapons to win their bet.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Higurashi saw the kids walk in and thought about them for a moment. They were currently just browsing his store but he could plain as day see the high quality kunai the girl had in her holster. He almost smirked when he realized she was looking at him out of the corner of her eye.

He knew she probably won the bet and sighed. They finally came to the counter to show off her set. He nodded in defeat as they were all still highly functional and well maintained. He asked about the leather grips and she said they were worn down first so she replaced them all so they would still be a matching set.

Higurashi let out a small chuckle at that. The girl was definitely going to be something else in her class. He knew a few chunin that wouldn't have thought that far ahead when maintaining their weapons.

"Well girl, you won the bet hands down. I have to say you took great care with these and I can tell you used the hell out of them as well." Higurashi said, still chuckling from before. He pulled out a small piece of paper and wrote out a coupon for ten percent off any purchase.

Tenten grinned at that and pulled out a scroll. "Higurashi-san, we have noticed that several blacksmiths send out genin teams to gather discarded kunai and shuriken from the training grounds to keep their supply or raw metal up. Do you also buy scrap metal?" She asked.

He nodded and they discussed a price before they unsealed their scroll. Most blacksmiths would buy them based off of the mission itself. That way, they could pay for a low D-rank mission and it was a small gamble with how much profit they made. Higurashi would instead buy broken swords, kunai, shuriken or anything metal at a percent of their cost.

While he explained that, Tenten also noticed that he wasn't giving them an exceptionally low price like most other stores would have tried. She knew the shop owners hated Naruto because of the Kyuubi in his gut, but Higurashi didn't seem to mind at all.

They worked out a price of five percent of their value for pure scrap and fifteen percent for salvageable pieces. Naruto and Tenten shared a look and grinned before unsealing the scroll. A small mountain of kunai and shuriken appeared and Higurashi almost laughed at just how much they brought.

He reached down and sealed them back up, grabbing the scroll and motioning them to come into the back. He had a large workbench there and unsealed them again on the larger table. He took a few minutes going through them and separating them into two piles of junk and salvageable pieces.

The junk pile was rather small overall and Naruto and Tenten had done a fair job at repairing those that could be repaired. While a salvaged kunai couldn't really be sold as a functional piece, but training kunai still had a fair price.

"Well kids, I have to admit I understand now how you maintained your gear so well. There are quite a few here and I got to say you did an excellent job fixing them up. I can only assume you have been gathering most of these for a long time. You got almost fifteen sets that are already good enough to be training sets as well as a few perfectly good sets as well." Higurashi said with a smile on his face.

"Well how about we get a price Higurashi-san." Tenten suggested. She had convinced Naruto they needed to sell off a good part of their stash to get enough money to get top tier equipment for the coming years. He agreed when she reminded him that there were plenty of standard issue kunai they still had sealed up in his house.

"Well, for the scrap pile I can give you 200 ryo. It's a nice pile and you gathered quite a bit of extra metal as well. The sets that are still serviceable as training kunai and shuriken I can give you 1,100 ryo. The ones that barely have any use at all I can give you another 600 as well." Higurashi said evenly. It was a pretty good price and he was actually rather happy to give it to these kids.

Tenten went over everything in her head. '1,900 ryo for a small mountain of mostly training kunai. The ones that were still almost new would be a bit of a bad deal but they needed cash more than extra sets of standard issue kunai.'

"That will be fair enough but I also have one request." Naruto said after getting a nod from Tenten. "I have a broken katana blade I was wondering if you could trim up and work into a tanto." Naruto explained as he unsealed it as well.

Higurashi picked up the blade and looked it over. There were a few small kinks on the edge that he could sharpen out. It was also a clean cut and not a break so the blade was still strong. "Well, I can definitely work it out. I am sure I made this blade, going off the quality at least. Since I don't have to forge the blade I can offer it to you for 900 ryo for labor and the pieces of the hilt." Higurashi offered.

Naruto just nodded and agreed. Higurashi thought about telling the kid that owning a real sword while he was this young was dangerous. He put thought aside as he saw just how much he was putting into his future. A wooden sword was great for learning how to handle a sword, but until you got a real one in your hands, the weight would always be different.

"Well Tenten-chan, we still have 6,000 ryo to spend. I am getting an actual sword and I am still good with my current kunai and shuriken. Is there anything you wanted?" Naruto asked and almost instantly regretted as Tenten's eyes almost glowed.

She quickly disappeared and came back with the two swords she saw on her first trip here in hand. Higurashi almost laughed at how excited the girl seemed and didn't quite want to burst her bubble that they cost 10,000 for the set.

"I'll tell you what girl, those are 10,000 for the pair. I can see you are by far the most interested in them out of every customer I have come across to date. I'll let you take them both home with you for 5,000 now and I will set up a tab for you. You can pay the other half when you get your get your next academy allowance." Higurashi explained with a bit of a smile of his face.

Tenten looked between him and Naruto as if begging him to let her get them. Naruto just smiled and nodded. What happened next surprised both of the guys as Tenten launched herself over the counter and gave Higurashi a hug. "Thanks so much Higurashi-san." She said before she hopped back over the counter.

"It's no problem girl. Just know that I usually wait till shinobi are chunin before I let them set up a tab." He said with a smirk. Tenten just nodded as she paid the first half of the bill.

"Well Higurashi-san. We better get home, we have a lot of training to do. You have been great and fair with us. I will be sure that the Uzumaki clan shops only here from now on." Naruto said as he turned from the counter toward the door.

"Uzumaki clan?" Higurashi said just loud enough for Naruto to hear. Naruto nodded and Higurashi kept talking. "So that must mean you are Kushina-san's child."

"Yes, Kushina was my mother. I take it you knew her." Naruto said, turning back to the blacksmith. "Yeah, she had custom ordered herself a ninjato while she was still in the anbu. She had a second one made shortly after as a spare. She never picked it up and with her passing, I held onto it because it was such a unique weapon. I suppose I should hand it off to you at this point." Higurashi mused before heading into the back storeroom.

Naruto was standing stock still at this point. He had never gotten around to reading about his mother's ken-jutsu style. He had known she used Uzumaki styled tai-jutsu but had never thought about ken-jutsu. He had trained in basic tanto ken-jutsu with Yugao and Inu a little bit that that was it.

Higurashi came back after a few moments dusting off a very deep red sheathed ninjato. It was a bit longer than an average ninjato being 55 centimeters. It wasn't a huge difference but he was sure there would be a reason his mother had it built that way.

"Well here it is. 55 centimeter blade, blue tinted chakra steel, the hilt is highly sensitive to chakra as well. Wood from the forest made by the first hokage himself. There is also a seal I had put onto the sheath that holds close to a small pond of water." He explained as he watched Naruto's eyes shine.

"From what she told me when she ordered the sword, she used a lot of water manipulation in her style and would need the water stored with the sword. Putting it on the sheath was the best plan we had for that." Higurashi explained further as he saw the questioning glance he made at the sheath.

"It's amazing Higurashi-san. How much did it cost to make it?" Naruto asked. "Well, Kushina-san paid me 63,000 ryo each for the pair of them." Naruto almost cried when he realized how long it would take to save up that much until Higurashi handed him the sword.

An intelligent 'Huh' from Naruto later and Higurashi explained it had already been paid for. Now it was Naruto's turn to jump over the counter and hug the blacksmith thanking him repeatedly.

Tenten spoke up a moment later and told Higurashi he should make Naruto's new tanto the same length if possible so he would be able to use it for training instead of his mother's sword. Higurashi nodded before he shooed the kids out so they could get to their training.

'I almost forgot I was dealing with kids again. They act more like full fledged shinobi at times. He felt rather good about being able to give Kushina's sword to her son. The promised income from being the sole blacksmith for such a noble clan was also a boost.' Higurashi thought with another chuckle.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

 **Ok that is a wrap. I hope no one thinks I am cheating with giving Naruto such a powerful sword so early in his career. Also anyone interested in the type of swords Tenten has now, Google 'Butterfly Swords'.**

 **I did a little looking around when trying to find an interesting weapon to give Tenten early and they seemed perfect. They are mostly used as an extension of ones martial arts and seemed deadly but not too deadly to seem cheaty at how early she got them.**

 **Other than that, I will be going through some personal stuff in the next few weeks so it may take a while until I get another update out the door. I ask for patience as it is a bit turbulent for me at the moment.**

 **Lastly, I made this chapter just a bit longer than I normally do. I think I may start making chapters a bit longer and longer. The hardest part for me to write is the ending to a chapter and I think making them longer will not change the average length of time it takes to put out the chapters.**

 **Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Welcome back to Trust By My Side. It has been a while since my last update but I am still here.**

 **Other than trying to make as much progress in the academy as I can this chapter, there isn't really much else to say.**

 **So without any more delays, let's get into Chapter 13 of Trust By My Side.**

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Naruto and Tenten sprinted home with their new weapons. They were practically yelling as they ran about how they were going to train. They both agreed to bother Yugao until she would help them. The prospect of swinging their new swords at each other was less than ideal. At least Yugao wouldn't get hurt.

They burst through the compound gate and made a B-line to Yugao's home. They both started beating on the door until Yugao finally came out. They both started chanting 'Training' over and over again until Yugao finally silenced them.

"You both what me to train you?" Yugao finally got out of her mouth. The twin shouts of 'Yes' mad that obvious. "What do you want training with?" She asked again. Both of them pulled out their swords. Yugao quirked an eyebrow and Tenten but when she saw Naruto's sword she stopped.

"Is, is that Kushina-chan's sword?" Yugao asked, slowly reaching for it. Naruto handed it over and nodded. Both kids calmed down a bit as they watched Yugao check out the sword. She walked out into the clearing of the compound, her front door completely forgotten. She started walking toward the pond before they managed to close her door.

Naruto and Tenten looked at each other and shrugged. Yugao looked like she was in a trance and they decided to just follow her. She slowly walked on the surface of the pond with the sword pointed down at her side.

She gently dipped the tip of the blade into the water and Naruto and Tenten saw it start to glow. They watched her slowly pull the sword out of the water and the water followed it. A thin stream of bright blue water followed the path of the sword's tip and floated for a moment before quietly sinking back into the pond.

She suddenly grabbed the handle firmly and raised it above her head. She swiftly angled the sword in front of her at a steep angle and swiped it in front of her. An eight foot talk wall formed where she swung and she jumped back.

She kept the tip of the blade in the water as she skated across the pond. Every few seconds she would swing the sword upwards and a blade would form and flow forward like a razor sharp wave. She would spin, and glide across the water with the utmost grace of movement forming water walls and blades everywhere she went.

Naruto was completely blown away. The sheer power and grace she was showing was majestic in his eyes. He knew he would have to train hard to get to that level of mastery. Tenten however saw more than what Naruto was seeing. She could see every twist and turn in her body and instantly knew Naruto would never be flexible enough to achieve that much mastery.

Yugao was letting tears flow freely down her face as she went through the forms she knew. Her and Kushina both shared strong water affinities and talent in ken-jutsu. Kushina had taught her the start of the her style during her pregnancy. She had perfected what she knew over the years, but being unable to get her jutsu scrolls from her home, it was still incomplete.

A minute after starting her deadly dance, Yugao came to a stop and walked to the dock where the kids were waiting.

"Thank you Naruto-kun, feeling this sword in my hands again really brings me back." Yugao said as she handed him back his sword. Naruto was just staring at her with stars in his eyes. "You have to teach how to do that." He finally said.

Yugao just chuckled a bit. "Well, if you have a water affinity, you could begin training as soon as you can master water walking. If not we would have to build up a water affinity before you can get to the nin-jutsu aspects of the style" Yugao explained.

Naruto felt a little let down that he would have to master water walking first. Yugao had told him he should take a few years to master tree walking before he even tried water walking. "Can you teach me the forms before you teach me the nin-jutsu part?" Naruto asked.

"Sure, I am not sure what I can teach you thought Tenten. I have never seen swords like those before. I don't know how similar a style with them would be like what I use with my ninjato." Yugao said. "I know, Higurashi-san said they were primarily used as an extension of someone's tai-jutsu. I was wondering if you knew a tai-jutsu style that might fit with them." Tenten replied back.

Yugao thought about it for a moment but was unsure about her own style. "The only tai-jutsu style I use required chakra scalpels . It might be close to the type of style you would use. I can get you to start learning it but you would need to talk to someone like Gai to make the full transition to ken-jutsu instead of tai-jutsu." Yugao explained.

Tenten didn't know who Gai was but if Yugao would recommend him for tai-jutsu training she would be sure to talk to him someday. "That would be a good place to start. I am already dipping into the intermediate academy style so I can always get into your style instead. I will learn the intermediate style eventually anyway." Tenten said back.

Yugao just nodded. "I guess by your earlier excitement, you both want to get started now?" Yugao asked sarcastically, already knowing the answer. Getting a pair of excited nods confirmed it for her.

"All right then. Naruto, the main points of Kushina-chan's style are speed and flexibility. You have a far broader build than us so we will have to find a way to change it for you." Yugao started explaining. Naruto's expression once again turned down a bit.

Tenten put a hand on his shoulder and he perked up a little. "You can still use the basics of the style and build it into something that fits you more." Tenten said comfortingly. Naruto nodded and looked back at Yugao.

"Don't worry Naruto-kun. There is still a lot you can do with Kushina-chan's style. We will need to come up with a new name later for what you make of it. The Dance of the Raging Water Goddess isn't very manly is it?" Yugao said with a smirk.

Naruto's jaw dropped a little bit. He was so excited to learn the style, he never even thought about it's name. He could hear Tenten giggle a little and his cheeks flooded with red. "Anyway, we need to work on your flexibility before we get too far into it. Go ahead and get stretched out a bit and I will show you a few different stretches that will help." She said.

Naruto nodded and walked off into the training area. "Now Tenten, for the tai-jutsu I think might work. It is built for using chakra scalpels to sever everything from muscles and arteries from the inside out. Using the scalpels requires pinpoint accuracy. I think you could get a similar effect with your swords but it would be a bit different in the distances. You would need to have your arms closer to your center but your reach would stay the same." Yugao started.

"The style is all speed and accuracy. There is no real power behind it so if you were to use it with your swords, it would be primarily glancing hits. Cutting muscles and weakening a target as opposed to removing limbs like a katana would be able to do. Aside from the slight difference in form, you should view your blades as my chakra scalpels." Yugao lectured.

Tenten nodded in understanding. Yugao then went through a few hand seals and her hands started to glow green with chakra. She checked to see that Tenten was paying full attention and then went through a few basic katas. Tenten could understand that it wasn't focused on any solid hits. Glancing blows could cripple someone from the inside out.

She looked down at her butterfly swords and could see the potential. She adjusted them in her hands a few times before taking the first stance Yugao had started with. She watched her go through the kata again before trying it. She could feel herself try and aim for the center of the chest instead of the locations Yugao was aiming for. Arteries and muscle clusters in the arms, legs, neck, sides, back and chest were the main targets.

Yugao watched her for a few moments and saw what she was doing. "I will try and get you some medical scrolls. Most styles will aim for the heart or head. While they will still be options for you, reading a few medical scrolls will help you find the targets most people don't block. Wrists, armpits, and thighs are usually not thought of as lethal. That will be the best part of training like this." Yugao said with a nod.

Tenten nodded again and went through the katas again as best she could. Getting used to the new blades would be just as important. Naruto came over a moment later after he finished his stretches.

"All right Naruto-kun. For the basics, you will be using heavy water manipulation in your style. Water is calm, water flows evenly, and water can move around any obstacle. I will start by teaching you how to stretch more of your body until I can teach you water nin-jutsu." Yugao stated before she started stretching.

"What will stretching do? I already stretch a lot." Naruto asked skeptically. He barely got the words out of his mouth before Yugao bent and twisted in a way Naruto didn't think humanly possible. He stood, speechless for a moment until she stopped for a moment and pulled out her sword. She went through a few of the moves she did on the water slowly and Naruto instantly saw how much flexibility he needed to gain.

"Naruto-kun, you will not only need the flexibility, but you will need the core strength that comes with it. A major point of this style is being able to dodge blows by twisting and turning around them. It is far harder to counterattack if you have to make large dodges. Instead, if you can dodge a strike with minimal movement, while still keeping strength in your counter attack, you can cripple someone while they are overextended." Yugao explained in-between moves.

"We were always taught that a sturdy base makes for a sturdy strike. It doesn't look like you have stable footing though." Naruto observed. "Normally, that would be the case. This style is built upon being able to strike from any position. Turning a weakness into a strength and adding to the unpredictability the Uzumaki clan were always known for." Yugao said with a smile.

Naruto just smiled and started doing the stretches Yugao was doing. While she could bend almost clean in half, Naruto was struggling to get anywhere near that point. "You have a far broader build than me, don't give up on the stretches and they will get easier in no time." Yugao said encouragingly when she saw his down cast expression.

He just nodded and kept going. She got him started with some basic katas when he was done and went back to supervise Tenten. They trained until it got dark and called it a day. Everyone went home with the plan of training every day they were primarily in the classroom instead of doing physical training.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

A few more months passed in the blink of an eye. Yugao had told them not to stray too far from the basic academy style and keep their weapons hidden until they started weapon training in the academy. A little complaining didn't do anything to keep her from letting them show off.

However, this was a special occasion. This was the last day of their first full year at the academy. Yugao said they could put their tai-jutsu to the test but still didn't let them use their weapons. Naruto didn't mind too much as his tai-jutsu didn't rely on the weapons. Tenten was a bit bothered because of how much her style was based off her swords.

They both agreed and went about their tests. They went the same as always until they got to the tai-jutsu sparing. Naruto flashed Tenten a grin and she grinned back. They both knew what they were going to do for the test and could hardly wait.

Iruka came around and checked their weights. Naruto and Tenten were both at thirty five pounds at this point and Iruka recommended not pushing their weights up anymore until they grew a bit more. Naruto and Tenten shrugged and agreed, trusting his judgment.

He discretely asked if they would be taking off their weights for their spars. They both just grinned and shook their heads no. If Iruka was surprised, he hid it rather well. Iruka was a bit surprised at just how far they were coming but knew who they lived next door to. He was beginning to wonder just how much they had been holding back.

He begun the sparring and everything to be going smoothly. They were using the academy style to great success and were all winning after taking a moment to spar with their opposition. Naruto and Hinata sparred for a moment and Naruto had encouraged her and got her to fight for a minute before he finally beat her.

Iruka knew he could have won at any moment but he intentionally did his best to pull Hinata out of her shell. Tenten was taking her fight against the weaker civilian kids in a similar fashion. Letting them fight it out a bit before winning.

Iruka made notes of that before he checked to the spar his partner, Mizuki was watching. Sasuke Uchiha vs Romi. Romi was an orphan and a promising student. She was a few inches shorter than the rest of her class. She had long, blond hair pulled back into a braided pony tail that ended in the middle of her back with her bangs free falling to the side of her face. She was very skilled in her tai-jutsu and chakra control but Sasuke was stronger.

Iruka frowned deeply when he fully understood what he was seeing. Sasuke clearly had the upper hand and was using it to punish Romi. Naruto or Tenten would take longer in fights as well, but their intentions were to help their classmates, not humiliate them. Sasuke had been getting more and more aggressive as the year went on. This was far above what he had tried before and Iruka stepped in to stop the fight.

Sasuke just scoffed and walked off as if it had been a waste of his time. Iruka would have to talk to Shisui at a later date. He asked Naruto to take Romi into the nurse while he continued to monitor the spars. Naruto nodded and helped her limp to the nurse.

Iruka was seething at seeing one of his students behave in such a manner. There were even two girls praising him for beating up Romi. He had cleared out a few hopeless fan-girls, but there will still girls that admired the Uchiha far too much for his taste. He couldn't clear them out because they were still training enough.

He looked to gauge the expressions of his classmates and most seemed neutral or looked away. He wasn't surprised by the general opinion. Sasuke was one of the strongest in the class and no one really wanted to piss him off. Ino, Shikamaru and Choji all stared him down as he walked back to the waiting area. Tenten was visibly pissed and he actually smirked a bit at that.

He looked down and Tenten was the next person to fight him. He grinned even more when he saw that. If anyone could beat Sasuke, it would be her. Iruka went through the next few spars like nothing was exciting him. Nothing too exciting happened, until Naruto returned. He whispered something to Tenten and saw her grin evilly.

He hoped they had something planned. He knew he shouldn't be playing favorites at all but he would make an exception in this case. Tenten and Sasuke match finally came and Iruka kept an eye on both as they entered the sparing circle. He saw Sasuke completely remove his weights and saw Tenten subtly swipe her hands over hers.

Iruka assumed she had turned her weights seal down to zero until he saw her arms sag a little. He hesitated a moment before he began the match. Sasuke took off and made a line straight for Tenten. He didn't see her mess with her weights and assumed she still had them at full weight. He was wrong.

Tenten blocked the strike by trapping his wrist with her wrist weights. The impact shattered his wrist and before he could scream in pain, she pulled him forward and off balance before she brought her weighted ankle straight down on the back of his shoulder. His shoulder was fractured painfully before he smacked face first into the ground screaming in pain.

Iruka thought about reprimanding her for such excessive force, but he didn't reprimand Sasuke and that would be showing favoritism. He called the match in Tenten's favor before he pulled her aside.

"What did you do with your weights Tenten?" He asked simply. She looked down at her wrist weights and swiped her hands across them, resetting them to normal. "Well, I doubled their weight." She replied simply.

Iruka quirked an eyebrow before she kicked her leg up to his eye level and pulled back her pant leg. Iruka touched the seal on the weights with a chakra cloaked finger and saw the setting it was on. Seventy pounds, she wasn't kidding.

"How were you able to move faster than Sasuke with seventy pounds on each limb? Any why would you do that anyway?" Iruka asked. "Chakra reinforcement on my muscles and the extra weight would make up for the lack in power I have with my training." Tenten explained.

Iruka was going to say something but stopped himself. He had taught Naruto, Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, Tenten, Shino and Hinata how do reinforce their joints with chakra so they could take tree climbing to the next stage. They had all asked how to do it so he taught them. No one else had bothered to ask and frankly they weren't ready for the focus it took.

"Well, in any case, keep up the good work. You have been helping your peers and haven't let your success blind you with pride. Keep with your current attitude and you will go far in the shinobi system." Iruka said with a nod before walking back to the class.

He asked Naruto how Romi was and he just said not well. His grim expression told him he would need to talk to her after he was done here. Fortunately there were only a few more spars left and after that is was a short day anyway. Everyone would get a week off so the teachers could update their schedule for the new coming year.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Iruka's week was anything but pleasant. He had talked to Romi in the nurse's office after he dismissed class and she was a wreck. Sasuke had broken her down and left only a few pieces to pick up. He had broken her jaw, knocked out a tooth, completely blacked her eye out to the point it was swollen shut, bruised her stomach and hyper extended the muscles in her arm.

He would ask for a Yamanaka to visit her in the hospital the next day to see if she was still fit to join the academy. Being beaten that hard by a friendly shinobi in training tended to leave trust issues. Romi was strong and he knew she could overcome that.

Iruka's meeting with Shisui was a bit more enlightening at least. Shisui had tried to get the pain of losing his clan by supporting and training him while he could. His responsibilities as stand in clan head as well as his own training gave him limited time to do that.

Sasuke also had the deep belief that Shisui was a fake Uchiha because of his relaxed demeanor. He never believed in the Uchiha supremacy that Sasuke held close in his month of solitude. He wasn't sure what he could do to snap Sasuke out of that line of thinking and he held no real power over him, even as stand in clan head.

Iruka sighed and just asked him to do his best anyway. If he followed the path he was going down, he wouldn't have anyone that trusted him enough to work together as a team.

He left the compound a moment later and headed back to his office. He knew Sasuke would try to get special privilege because of his status as one of the last Uchiha. He was the only true heir left and would wave that badge in front of anyone that would look at it. Iruka would just put his foot down next year.

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Naruto and Tenten spent their weekend training. They visited Higurashi and finished paying off Tenten's swords. They also sold a bit more scrap they had gotten to get a bit more cash. Nothing much, just enough to fill the refrigerator a bit more.

The last few months had shown steady progress. They were both about done with the basic academy style already. They thought it would be kind of boring learning a style they already had down for an entire year but ignored it. They could still help their classmates out and that was good enough for them.

Naruto was still working on his flexibility and Tenten was still studying her medical scrolls. They had another full year to get it down before they would be moving on to academy work they would need to pay more attention to.

They would be learning a few things they already knew in the coming year. The classroom work would be new but wouldn't make them much stronger. The practical skills they would be learning were also rather lame.

Further mastery of tree climbing they learned months ago, further mastery of beginner academy style tai-jutsu, more physical training. Everything they already knew how to do for another year. Wasn't a very exciting prospect to them. They would at least get started with ken-jutsu in class and could learn something there.

They were just talking about it when they realized the wooden swords they had would be next to useless for them. They were the wrong size for both of them. They looked them over and realized they never used them at all.

A quick trip to Higurashi Arms fixed that quickly. He was more than happy to build wooden replicas of their weapons for them. He even gave them a discount for their continued support. The real reason was because the Yamanaka, Nara and Akimichi clans had heard how well he was taking care of Naruto's weapon needs they started pointing their clan at his shop. But they didn't need to know that.

They were ready before class started back up and they got used to them before they would start optional ken-jutsu lessons two months later.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

"All right class, those of you who did well in your last exams will be given the option of taking ken-jutsu lessons. You will be attending these classes instead of other physical training on the last training day of the week. If you don't take this extra class now, you won't be able to take ken-jutsu classes in your next year. Raise your hand if you want to take the classes." Iruka called out.

Naruto, Tenten, Sasuke and a few others raised their hands. Naruto and Tenten both looked at each other. Neither thought that Sasuke would bother learning how to use a sword. "There will be two jonin that will alternate between watching the class. Those that wish to take the class will meet their first instructor at the end of the day." Iruka said once more before getting to the lesson.

The class itself was pretty boring but after lunch they went outside. They branched off into two groups for tai-jutsu and ken-jutsu training. Naruto and Tenten stopped to take stock of their new sensei. He didn't seem like much to them. Short brown hair, dark eyes, looked like he hadn't slept in weeks, and a bandana styled headband.

He had a very long katana and a really bad cough was about all they could tell about him. "Welcome everyone, my name is Hayate Gekko, special jonin and resident ken-jutsu specialist." He said before he coughed. "Before anyone asks, I have had this cough for a few years and no it doesn't affect my ability to be a shinobi." He said again looking at a kid standing in the back of the group.

"I will be teaching you the basics of the sword for this second year in the academy. I will not teach you if I think you are wasting my time so pay attention and practice. Your life depends on it so don't slack off." He said before he drew his sword.

He gave it a quick flourish before he re-sheathed it. "I have trained myself for many years and if I hear anyone question my knowledge of the sword I will personally eject you from this class." He said in a challenging tone. He watched a few of the kids shrink away from him while Naruto and Tenten stared him in the eye with respect.

He nodded and started the lesson. He went down the line of everyone and checked their wooden swords. He was deeply disappointed to see most of then had no wear on them. A few just had an aged look to them like they had bought them a year ago and let them deteriorate.

Everyone saw his expression as he went down the line and Sasuke smirked when he nodded in approval at his. He had gotten it six months ago and used it every now and again. He also was careful with it to not tear it up too bad. He felt like the best in the class until Hayate came to Tenten and Naruto.

He approached Naruto first and grabbed his wooden sword. "Hmm, straight ninjato, 55 inches long, high quality, light wear, obviously pretty new though." He said to himself. "When did you get this?" He asked Naruto. "About two months ago." He replied.

"Really, you put this much wear on it in two months huh?" Hayate asked skeptically. "Well yeah, I needed to get used to the weight and feel of it before classes start so I practiced with it first. It is a bit lighter than I am used to." Naruto said with an even tone.

"What sword are you used to?" Hayate asked back. Most kids shouldn't be used to anything by that point. Naruto just shrugged and pulled out a small scroll that he kept his sword in. Hayate's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets when he saw the sword.

"Kid, do you know what sword that is?" He asked with his voice a bit shaky. "It was my mother's, yes I am aware." Naruto said as if it wasn't as big a deal as it was. "Truly an amazing sword you got there kid. Your in luck though, my partner would be able to teach you a thing or two about that blade." Hayate said after a moment of admiration.

"Your partner?" Naruto asked. "Yugao Uzuki." Hayate replied. "So Ba-chan is going to be teaching ken-jutsu, awesome." Naruto replied back. Hayate just stood there for a moment before he remembered how close Yugao was to Kushina. He just nodded and went down to Tenten.

Tenten pulled out her wooden butterfly swords and Hayate quirked an eyebrow at her. "I have never seen swords like these. What kind of style are you trying to work on with these?" He asked her. She could hear Sasuke trying to hold back a laugh at her but she ignored him.

"Well, Yugao-san recommended something similar to using them like chakra scalpels. Quick, accurate strikes to less common vitals and muscles. I already got a start on it a few months ago if you want to see what I mean." Tenten offered.

Hayate nodded and grabbed his own wooden sword. He nodded and Tenten lunged into action. After a brief spar Hayate called for it to end. Hayate complimented her on her technique and told her that he would mostly be keeping an eye on her training and she would have to ask Yugao for new techniques. She just nodded and said that was fine.

"All right everyone, you are all going to need to pair up. I don't know any of you so I will leave that up to you guys." Hayate said as he watched every one choose. He saw two girls fighting over being Sasuke's partner and he sighed. They were treating him like he was the best that would protect him forever.

'Iruka said he had sifted out the hardcore fan-girls. Apparently he missed a few.' Hayate lamented. He would be stuck with them for a while. At least it was only a few days a month and not a daily thing. He turned and saw Naruto and Tenten pair up. There was the flair of a deep trust between them that he saw in squads that made it to chunin together.

He instantly knew they would work perfectly together. The fact that they both had completely unique styles was a plus for him as well. Sparing against the style you were learning would help the other kids out and they both needed to learn from Yugao instead of him.

"All right. Your partner will be your sparring partner for now. We will switch up every other week to get everyone used to different sized opponents. During these spars, it will be about skill. If I see one of you boys throwing your weight against one of the girls, I will kick you out." Hayate explained between coughs.

Everyone nodded and Hayate began to run them through the basic katas of Konoha's basic ken-jutsu style. Swordsmen were rather few in the village so a basic style worked. Everyone that used primarily ken-jutsu would customize the style to fit them over the years.

Hayate would get their basics down solid so they could start working on a new style in their final two years of the academy. The hokage was taking large steps to improve the villages strength and he was staying close to the village to train anyone with the sword that would listen.

This first year he would have the basics driven home so that his assistant could have a stable foundation to build up on in the following two years. He would need to train his assistant more now that he thought about it. No sense giving the future of the village anything but the best training. He might be able to get his assistant a promotion to special jonin as well if he worked him hard enough.

Hayate began to look through the class and could see those with potential. Of course Naruto and Tenten stood out with their unique styles they had obviously been practicing. Sasuke had done well through the first day as well. Even without the sharingan, his genes were still built for copying everything.

Sasuke probably would have been the best with the basic style if he would fully apply himself. Hayate had to pull him out of class when he knocked his sparing partner out with a full force blow to the head. Sasuke had just feigned ignorance saying 'I thought he would block it.' Hayate had been watching and that was a load of crap. He gave him one warning and if he decided to do it again, he would eject him from the class. Sasuke just mumbled to himself as he got paired up with Naruto for the rest of the class until his sparing partner recovered.

Sasuke could instantly tell Naruto was using a different style and called him out on it. "Why the hell are you using a different style?" Sasuke yelled at Naruto. "It is the style I chose in honor of my late mother." Naruto replied. He was pretty pissed at Sasuke, mostly just seeing him go down the path Itachi had always said Uchiha ended up going. The path of arrogance and self entitlement.

"Why the hell do you get to learn a different style while I am stuck with this shitty basic style." Sasuke yelled a little louder, their spar getting a bit more tense. "Because I chose to carry on my mother's legacy with my own two hands." Naruto replied back, his voice also getting a little louder.

Hayate looked over at them to see them arguing and started to make his way over to them. "You are a no name orphan. Any style your whore of a mother scrounged together pales in comparison to the Uchiha's style." Sasuke shouted before he screamed in pain when Naruto smashed his sword down on Sasuke's hands, forcing him to drop his sword.

He took a step forward and placed the tip of his sword to his throat. "If you ever disrespect my mother or those close to me again, I will start shattering bones, do you understand?" Naruto asked with a cold tone. Hayate had gotten there a moment later to break them up. He sent Sasuke to the nurse before pulling Naruto aside.

"What the hell was that? Why did you snap like that. You were supposed to spar to get better, not destroy his hands." Hayate said to him firmly. "He called my mother a whore. As the previous head of the Uzumaki clan, she deserves no such disrespect. As the future head of the clan, I will uphold her honor." Naruto said as firmly as he could.

Hayate just sighed before coughing into his hand. "Clan matters are none of my business, but he is not the only Uchiha. He can have his stand in clan head put that into the council to vote on a punishment for you. I will be forced to report that you used excessive force during a training spar and you could be punished severally." Hayate said.

"Then I hope you also report his excessive force used to his previous partner that required me to spar with him in the first place." Naruto said before he walked back over to spar with Tenten again. 'Kid is ballsy, I'll give him that.' Hayate thought to himself before he wrote down what all happened. He would most likely need accurate info in the coming days.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

A few more weeks passed and Sasuke didn't bring the incident up. Something about Uchiha pride got in his way. During those few weeks, Naruto had been busy talking with Yugao.

"Ba-chan, you said Ka-san formally adopted you as her sister right?" Naruto asked one evening. "Well, yes. She wrote up a formal adoption form and everything. It was signed by the fourth hokage himself. Why do you ask?" Yugao asked skeptically.

"Well, Hayate-sensei said something that I had been thinking about for a while now. He said that there is a stand in Uchiha clan head. I think his name is Shisui right?" Naruto asked. He got a nod of confirmation and continued.

"Well, if you were formally adopted, then that makes you a full Uzumaki. Would you accept it if I asked Jiji to make you the stand in clan head?" Naruto asked with a bit of nervousness in his voice. Yugao just stood there, wide eyed at his proposition.

"Naruto-kun, if I were to take up the spot as Uzumaki clan head, it might give you a lot of unwanted attention. Are you sure you want me to do that?" She asked carefully. In all honestly the thought never occurred to her that she would technically be a legal Uzumaki. Kushina had died before they made it public.

"If you are willing to do it, I would be honored to have you as stand in clan head. Besides, it would only be until I was able to take over. I think Jiji said I could take up clan head status when I hit chunin. Even when I graduate I could sit in on meetings." Naruto said with conviction.

Yugao was taken for a loop. It wasn't every day that you were offered a place on the council. Even more that an orphan was offered a place as temporary head of a clan. She might not have considered herself an orphan for years, the feeling was still there.

"Thank you Naruto-kun. We should talk to Hokage-sama and sort out the details. He still needs to approve me as a member of the council to make it official." Yugao said. Naruto just nodded happily and started walking toward the hokage tower.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

 **Well that is a wrap. I really don't want to end the chapter here but it should make it easier to start up the next chapter.**

 **Let me know what you think of the chapter. I feel it is lacking a bit, I think it is just because of how much time I skipped.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Welcome back everyone. I am sure at least a few people are worried I am quitting the story because of how slow the updates are coming out.**

 **I am not quitting the story just dealing with irl crap. Spent about two weeks fixing up friends laptop they gave me. Was hoping it would be easier to type on the go that old laptop.**

 **While it is a nicer laptop and I like the keyboard a ton more, the battery doesn't work. Finally managed to get the stupid thing reset to factory default and get everything working so can actually use it.**

 **Also wanted to thank everyone for the support and wanted to announce we hit 100 reviews. Thank everyone and without further delay, let's get into Chapter 14 of Trust By My Side.**

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Naruto and Yugao were just being called into the Hokage's office. "Good afternoon Naruto-kun, what can I do for you two today?" Hiruzen asked with a smile.

"Good afternoon Jiji. I was wanting to ask you if it would be possible to make Ba-chan here the temporary head of the Uzumaki clan." Naruto said with a smile as he looked up at Yugao. She smiled back at him and faced Hiruzen.

Hiruzen quirked an eyebrow. "All she would need is proof that she is a legal Uzumaki. What is your proof that you are Yugao?" Hiruzen asked.

Yugao pulled out a small scroll and handed it to him. He took a moment to read it all the way through and nodded. "So Kushina adopted you as her sister. That would make you the only jonin of the Uzumaki clan. I can call a council meeting to put it to a vote. It will get passed one way or another, but having the council vote on it will make it more, set in stone I suppose." Hiruzen told them.

They both nodded and thanked him. "It's nothing at all, I am proud to see you are considering the future of your clan so seriously. I have also gotten good reports from the academy. The only complaint I have gotten is from Hayate, he seems to think you have a bit of an anger issue. Care to explain." Hiruzen asked curiously.

"I don't take well with people insulting my family, simple as that." Naruto said simply. Hiruzen could only nod. 'Kushina would have most likely done the same thing.' He thought.

"It's not a big deal, just try to not to make enemies in the academy. You will most likely be working with them again in the future. Anyway, I will call the meeting for tonight. Yugao, you will need to be there with the scroll. There shouldn't be any problems." Hiruzen informed her.

"Thank you Hokage-sama. I never thought reading about the Uzumaki clan all those years ago would come to be anymore more than simple knowledge. It will be an honor to serve as temporary clan head." Yugao said with a bow.

"Save it for the meeting Yugao. I know how close you and Kushina were, I can't think of a better person to stand in than you." Hiruzen said with a nod.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

It was only a week later when the next council meeting came underway. Since the civilian council could no longer vote, the meeting went as fast as it should. That was, until Yugao brought up her proposition.

"As standing representative of the Uzumaki clan, I, Yugao Uzuki Uzumaki would like to call to a vote the opening of the Uzumaki clan general account at the bank for use in funding clan operations. Currently, myself as well as the standing heir, Naruto Uzumaki, do not have access to our own clans own funds." Yugao said before taking a quick look at everyone.

The civilians are were staring at her like she had grown a second head. "I apologize if this sounds rude Yugao-sama, but that is hardly something for the council to need to hear about. You should have been given the account when it was announced that you were the stand in heir." Inoichi replied.

"I understand your concern Inoichi-sama. I would not bring this up if I had not explored every option available to me prior. The bank did not recognize me as an Uzumaki and refused to open an account with no 'Legitimate' members." Yugao replied.

"We had a meeting about this a week ago. I would love to hear why the civilian side did not spread word to the sectors they represent." Tsume Inuzuka brought up, taking a moment to watch the civilian council member in charge of the banks sweat a little.

"I would also like to hear why there is a refusal of service from the shinobi bank. Not even that is just anyone, but a clan head themselves." Hiruzen said, leveling his gaze at the council member in charge of the banks.

"Well you see, the banks agreed that accounts left inactive for five years would be absorbed into the village funds. We denied Yugao-sama access to the Uzumaki funds because there hasn't been an account for near 5 years now." The councilman said.

"Where, in Konoha law, do you have the right to empty a clan fund without express permission of me and the council?" Hiruzen demanded.

"By the time we found out there was a surviving Uzumaki, the account had already been gone." The man tried to add to his case.

"That is not what I asked!" Hiruzen yelled, slamming his fist down on the table.

"It isn't law that we can't do that." He stammered out. "I'm making it a law right now. Any objections?" Hiruzen said, taking all of one second to check before moving on.

"Further more, I am calling for all records of the Uzumaki clan bank and will be reimbursing them for every ryo lost. It will be pulled from the village reserves. Any objections?" Hiruzen called out.

"Hokage-sama, while I would greatly appreciate getting the money returned, it is not a pressing matter. If you wish the money returned, how about slowly pay it back instead of a lump sum. I would not like to possibly dent the treasury by asking for it all at once." Yugao said.

Everyone seemed pleased with her answer and the Hokage nodded. "I will talk to you later about the details when we have an amount. It is accepted for now." Hiruzen said with a nod.

"Anything else that needs to be brought to my attention?" Hiruzen called out. Taking a look around, no one seemed to have anything more to say. "All right, meeting adjourned."

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

"How did the meeting go?" Naruto asked Yugao when she made it back to the compound. "Good, they will be paying us back every ryo that was in the account over time. It will be nice to have a clan account we can actually use to rebuild a bit." Yugao said back.

"I was thinking we should build a guest house first. Maybe like a big, eight bedroom house. Four bathrooms, those being in between pairs of rooms. Something like a big dining hall. Probably a big kitchen too. Just something that we can gather everyone together and not have to worry about being cramped in one of our houses." Naruto listed off.

"That is a pretty good idea Naruto-kun. We should also build up a clan meeting hall. Something we can use to invite people over for important meetings. Just something a bit more formal." Yugao suggested.

"That is a great idea. We should also build a library. We have some of the best knowledge on fuin-jutsu and I can't really see a reason to keep it all to ourselves. Well, at least the basic knowledge stuff." Naruto said after thinking about it for a moment.

"I think we are getting ahead of ourselves here. We still have to see how much money we will have to fund this construction. I am going to talk to the hokage tomorrow morning about how much we will be getting. After that, we can decide what to spend it all on." Yugao said, trying to bring Naruto back to earth.

"Uhh, yeah let's do that first." Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "I am going to set a little bit of my mission pay into the clan account. I think you should do the same when you start taking missions." Yugao suggested.

"Well of course, I intend to rebuild the clan. I can't very well do that by being selfish with my money." Naruto said with conviction.

Yugao just giggled a bit at his attitude. She was glad to be around the Uzumaki clan. They seemed to always be the kindest people she had met.

"Don't worry about it yet Naruto-kun. You still have five years in the academy." Yugao said with a small laugh. "Don't remind me." Naruto complained.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Time passed, the second year of the academy was coming to an end. The tests were being graded and everyone was celebrating. They decided a weekend with Naruto was in order and everyone was sitting around the dinner table.

As always, Choji's parents sent them with far too much food for just the small group. For dinner though, there were three new guests.

Shino had come for dinner when Shikamaru asked to discuss plans for their next two years in the academy. Hinata had come when she heard it was a small party to celebrate their second year completed. Romi had come when Naruto asked if she was going to celebrate. He bugged her the entire day until she agreed to come for dinner.

"What classes were you thinking about taking Shino?" Shikamaru asked. "I believe tai-jutsu will always help anyone as well as nin-jutsu. I will need to be well rounded so I do not rely on my clan jutsu too much." Shino said in a calculated tone.

"Shino, you should take fuin-jutsu classes with us. I bet you could make a super small explosive note and have a bug drop it in someone's pants without them knowing." Naruto said with a laugh.

"You do make a valid point Naruto. I will take the idea to my father and get his advice on the matter." Shino said back. Everyone still kind of thought he talked a bit weird.

"What about you Romi, what were you thinking about taking?" Tenten asked. "I was thinking tai-jutsu and fuin-jutsu honestly. I think I could make the same effect as nin-jutsu without using as much chakra if I study fuin-jutsu hard enough." She replied.

"What about you Hinata?" Choji asked. Hinata shrunk into her chair a bit. "Father says I only need tai-jutsu so that is all I will be doing." She replied meekly.

"You have such good chakra control, you should do gen-jutsu." Ino said. "Father says that Hyuga Gentle Fist is all I need to be a strong ninja." She replied back, sinking into her seat a bit more.

"Well, gen-jutsu will also help you dispel them too right?" Choji asked. "The Byakugan can see through gen-jutsu. I don't need the class for that." She said, getting even quieter.

"Your father doesn't believe in learning more than tai-jutsu?" Naruto asked. "We have had the best tai-jutsu in the village for a long time. Father says that it is our strength and all we need." She replied in barely a whisper.

Everyone saw the pattern and decided it wasn't worth asking about anymore. They started talking around the table a bit more before someone finally asked Naruto what his plans were.

"Well, I want to take nin-jutsu, tai-jutsu, ken-jutsu and fuin-jutsu." He said. Everyone told him he couldn't take all of them. The general idea was that most students would only focus on two classes. Every study had a morning and afternoon class to suit that plan.

After a bit of debating, he decided on fuin-jutsu and ken-jutsu. He would talk to Jiji about at least getting something from the other classes to help him out later. They finished eating and everyone went outside to sit around a bonfire.

Naruto had suggested the idea to everyone and everyone thought it was a good idea to take it easy after dinner. Naruto also suggested that they have a get together every month. He had heard Yugao talk about finally getting her friends back together every month and liked the idea.

Choji, Ino and Shikamaru all agreed instantly. Romi decided it would be nice to see her friends and just unwind from training every now and again. Shino with his limited social interactions decided to expand upon it and agreed to come back. Hinata said she had to ask her father.

Everyone knew that meant no and understood. They would all have dinner at Naruto's place every month and maybe play games or have another bonfire. Just something to keep everyone together while they had the free time in the academy to do so.

As it started to get a little late, Hinata, Shino and Romi all had to get back home. Ino, Shikamaru and Choji had all planned to stay the night so they stayed behind.

Naruto threw another log on the fire and sat next to Tenten again. After a moment, he fell back onto his back and stared up at the sky. The sun had set not too long ago and the stars were coming into view.

"Hey Shika, you always liked watching the clouds right?" Naruto asked suddenly. A quick grunt of acknowledgment from Shikamaru was all the effort he put into a reply. "What do you think about watching the stars?" Naruto asked.

"Well, they are also nice. I still prefer clouds. I think it is just how peacefully they wander in the sky. Stars are much more stationary." Shikamaru elaborated.

"You seem pretty stationary most of the time though." Tenten said with a chuckle. Everyone shared a short laugh at Shikamaru's expense before getting quiet again.

"What do you think fuin-jutsu classes are going to be like?" Naruto asked after a few minutes. "They will probably have us working on our calligraphy and basic seals first. We might get to building trap building with explosive tags and such to be a more practical class." Shikamaru guessed.

"That would be cool. It would certainly be better than just sitting in a classroom all day for two full years." Naruto said. Tenten gave him a light slap on the leg. He knew why she hit him and just laughed at her workaholic attitude.

"I know, the classroom stuff is important. I just like the hands on work more." Naruto said, half trying to defend himself. Tenten just sighed and shook her head. She knew he would work hard at fuin-jutsu. It was just how he was.

Ino and Choji were both sad at the upcoming years. They would be separated from the friends through most of it. Ino had decided to focus on gen-jutsu and tai-jutsu while Choji decided on nin-jutsu and tai-jutsu. They would be in the same tai-jutsu class with Shikamaru but they wouldn't see Naruto and Tenten outside basic classes with Iruka-sensei.

Iruka-sensei's classes would be the shortest of the day and they were both going to miss their friends during the rest of the day. Naruto and Tenten had both decided on fuin-jutsu and ken-jutsu. They both had different tai-jutsu styles that didn't mesh well with the academy style so the opted to go with ken-jutsu instead.

Ken-jutsu classes would be more looking at building a new style as well as mastering the basics of swordsmanship. This would let them work on their own styles with more freedom that they would have had in tai-jutsu classes.

They all agreed to take their physical classes in the morning to wake them up and get the blood pumping. They would take their jutsu classes in the afternoon and meet up every now and again after class to spar. This would mean they wouldn't be tired at the end of the day and could spar at full speed.

Everyone cheered up a bit at the prospect of sticking together through the academy. Any fears of drifting apart were put to rest at that. The conversation drifted back to fuin-jutsu classes.

"Romi is going to be in the class too, I wonder who else will be taking it." Naruto thought out loud. "I believe Shino will also be there. I think it will just be the five of us though. No one else really seemed interested in the class when Iruka-sensei brought it up." Shikamaru said.

Naruto quirked his head a bit at that statement. "But you can do almost anything with fuin-jutsu. Why wouldn't you take it unless you specialized in something else?" Naruto asked, saving himself from insulting Ino and Choji by adding that last bit.

"I think it is just an art that takes dedication without short term results. Why take two years to learn how to make a seal that can hold a pond when you could fill one with nin-jutsu with less than a few months of training?" Shikamaru explained.

Naruto reluctantly nodded. Fuin-jutsu wasn't easy, but a master could do almost anything with it. A master of nin-jutsu might be able to destroy a mountain, but a fuin-jutsu master could do it with much less chakra.

"I get it, class might be boring with only five people though. I hope we get a few more people at least." Naruto said. "More people will just distract the teacher from helping us." Tenten submitted into the conversation.

"Also fair enough. With less people, we will have less chance to compare notes and help everyone improve." Naruto said back. Everyone smiled and nodded. Naruto always seemed to make something selfish seem good natured.

"How is your calligraphy Naruto-kun?" Ino asked innocently enough. "It's, good." Naruto answered slowly. While his calligraphy had improved, he wasn't sure if it was good enough yet.

"We will have plenty of time to practice in class. It's not like they didn't have that planned." Tenten said trying to cheer him up. He just chuckled and nodded.

"Well at least I have read a lot of mom's scrolls. I know how to make a lot of simple scrolls, I just need someone who is better at it to check them before I activate them." Naruto said trying to make himself sound cool.

While it was true that he knew how to make several basic seals, he had no way of knowing if they would work without a second opinion. Yugao had told him a story of an over-eager genin from when she was in the academy that made a storage scroll before he was ready. It sucked the kunai, and half of his arm into the seal when he activated it.

Turned out one of the kanji had been about an eighth of an inch off center and the seal didn't have a set limit on how much to draw in. He put way too much chakra into it and it did not regulate the input on it's own like it was designed to. Fortunately he managed to break the seal before it killed him, but it still ended his career before it really got going.

That story had been enough for Naruto to halt on activating his own seals. He had only focused on explosive notes and he didn't want to know what happened when one of those went off incorrectly. That story also got him to read on different seals while he waited until he got into the new classes.

Tenten had decided to start reading the scrolls with him at that point. She knew if she left him alone with it, he would eventually cause a ton of property damage and she wasn't wrong.

After living with Naruto for as long as she had been, she knew better than to leave him with anything dangerous. Learning how to bandage all of his cuts from learning how to throw kunai was enough for her.

They sat around the fire a little longer before calling it a night. They all went to bed wondering what their classes were going to be like next week.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Naruto woke up and had breakfast with everyone. They had all planned on staying one night before heading back home. They had a full week before classes started back up and they wanted to discuss their future classes with their families.

Naruto and Tenten didn't really have the same plans so they just trained instead. They would use their week to restock at Higurashi's as well as buy some new things for the compound.

It had been seven months since the Uzumaki clan funds had started being returned. They decided to split payments over the next four years. Everything would be paid by the time Naruto graduated.

The payments were monthly amounts of 670,000 ryo for a total of just under 37 million ryo. The bank that originally held the account was rather pissed when they found out that to cover the dent in the village treasury, their taxes had gone up.

After spending a little on a few genin teams to repaint the houses, clear out the yard, as well as put up fences around Yugao's house and the plot where they were going to put up the guest house. They also had gotten a few saplings from the first hokage's forest. The account ended up at just over four and a half million ryo.

The trees were known for how well they reacted to chakra. Naruto had decided to buy a few to make a corner of the compound into a shaded meditation area. Yugao had supported his plan knowing it was a fairly common practice to forming an earth affinity.

A shinobi could channel their chakra through the ground and feel for the trees. The trees were receptive enough to the chakra that a person could feel it pull on their chakra. Someone could train by pooling their chakra through the earth and were considered to have become adept with earth manipulation when they could circle a full grown tree without having it pull on their own chakra.

The trees would also tend to grow rapidly after such training. Naruto planned on having Yugao or Inu help him get started since he would be in fuin-jutsu classes and miss out on nin-jutsu until after he graduated.

In the meantime, Naruto and Tenten had talked to Yugao about getting the guest house built and she had gone off to talk to her carpenter friend. Naruto had sent her with the offer of an A-rank mission totaling 4,000,000 ryo for the construction of an eight bedroom guest house.

He also sent her with an offer to be the primary carpenter of the Uzumaki clan. He knew that he was active duty and could not always be there, but he wanted permission to call upon him for future construction.

Yugao had nodded and went on her way. Naruto and Tenten had went to the store to try and get some basic things they would need for the new house. Furniture, lights, appliances and a few smaller things.

They ran in to a bit of problems when owner of the shop tried to pull Tenten aside and tell her to run while she could. He had called Naruto a monster and Tenten told him that he could end the day selling the Uzumaki clan what they needed or rotting in anbu prison.

He got pale and quiet but did his job regardless. They had went through the store and lined everything up that they wanted for the new guest home and had it put on hold for them. They left after putting half the payment down and moved on.

Tenten headed home to meet with Yugao and discuss the finer points of the construction. She had said that Naruto should do it but he trusted her judgment and knew that she would do a better job than him.

Naruto had headed to the hokage's office to talk about his upcoming two years at the academy. He was hoping to figure out how to take more classes and if anyone could help him out it would be Hiruzen.

He waited for a moment before the receptionist let him go up into his office. "Naruto-kun, how can I help you today?" Hiruzen asked with a smile.

"Hey Jiji. I wanted your advice on what classes I should take. I think I should take ken-jutsu and fuin-jutsu but then I can't take nin-jutsu or tai-jutsu classes. Is there anyway I can get the material from all four classes?" Naruto asked.

Hiruzen took a moment to think about it. With how worried he was about possible raids on their borders, he had to cut out a few teachers to have them train higher up the ranks. Ever since the Kyuubi attack, they have not had a jinchuriki to deter the other countries for years.

Their reputation had held strong for the years so far but he knew that Kumo and Iwa would jump when they heard that they still had a jinchuriki and a young one at that. If they ever found out about Naruto's heritage, they would also single him out even harder.

Giving Naruto any edge he could while he was still in the academy would help increase his survivability down the road. He just did not have the resources to give him any special attention.

He had recently asked a few of his teachers to stay a little later to give more direction to students that either needed the help, of showed the potential to use it. A small pay increase was enough to keep them interested in the extra program.

It still brought him to his problem at hand. Those teachers weren't teaching full classes, just enhancing the basics. He thought of ways he could help Naruto get the materials from the classes but without him actually being there he didn't see them helping much.

That was when he had an idea. "Naruto-kun, what was your chakra score?" Hiruzen suddenly asked. Naruto quirked his head and thought about it for a moment. His chakra score had been 256 when he started the academy.

"Well I was at 256 at the start of the academy. In the last two years I would guess that I am close to 350 based on how much more chakra it feels like I have." Naruto answered.

Hiruzen smiled at that. 350 was an average for most active duty chunin. By holding the Kyuubi, Hiruzen guessed he could easily add an extra few hundred to that and decided to teach Naruto a way to attend all the classes he wanted.

"Naruto-kun, listen very closely as this is very important. I am going to teach you a new technique but you need to properly understand the dangers of it. You can not, under any circumstances, teach this to anyone. Do you understand?" Hiruzen asked seriously. Naruto nodded in acceptance.

Hiruzen stood up and made a hand sign before a perfect clone of himself appeared next to him. He decided to just show Naruto how the clone worked to help explain it. Naruto always had been a hands on learner.

"Naruto-kun this is called the shadow clone jutsu. Everything my clone does I will learn about when it dispels. I can teach you this and you can send a clone to classes you can not attend yourself. If you can master it in the week, I will tell the teachers what to expect." Hiruzen explained.

Naruto quirked his head a little bit. "I thought clones weren't solid. What if they have to do class work?" Naruto asked. Hiruzen replied by having his clone ruffle Naruto's hair before dispelling.

"Shadow clones are an A-rank forbidden technique. They are exceptionally strong and useful, but the high chakra cost means that it is not available for anyone outside of anbu and jonin level shinobi. Your average chunin would be able to make around four before he would start suffering from chakra exhaustion." Hiruzen started to lecture.

Naruto nodded gravely before continuing to listen. "I am going to allow you to learn it for use in the academy because I know you will use it to further your education. Now you are faced with a problem however. I would recommend personally taking different classes so you physically gain the experience." Hiruzen said before taking a moment to think a bit more.

"You will gain your muscle memory from the clones, but without physically doing the training, your muscles run the risk of not being able to keep up. For example, if you had a clone practice a thousand high kicks, you would gain the experience but you may not be able to kick as high as your clone and lose all of that experience." Hiruzen continued lecturing.

Naruto nodded. "I understand Jiji. I will go through every class and make you proud." Naruto said with conviction. Hiruzen just chuckled lightly before he stopped his work to teach Naruto the basics of the technique.

"Now I need to get back to focusing on my work. When you go to practice, have Yugao supervise you. Only try to make one clone at a time until you can find your limits. No more than four until I tell you otherwise. Do you understand?" Hiruzen said seriously.

Naruto nodded. "Yes Jiji." Hiruzen let his face soften a bit and gave Naruto a smile. "Good, I will talk with your instructors and tell them that you will be allowed to take any classes you want. Have a good day Naruto-kun." Hiruzen said with a wave as Naruto got up and left.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Naruto wanted nothing more than to run home as fast as he could to start training but he wasn't done in town yet. Tenten had asked him to stop by the library and grab a few books for new homeowners.

While they already owned a home, they wanted to be better informed on how to properly take care of a new home when they had the guest home built.

Naruto arrived at the library and started going through the civilian sections. Shiho found him after a moment and they started to chat.

"Hello again Naruto-san, what are you looking for today?" Shiho asked as she rounded the corner. "Ah hello Shiho-chan. I need a book or two on home ownership. We are having a new house built in the compound and figure we could use some extra information about it." Naruto explained.

"Ok, actually here." Shiho said before she reached into the pile she was carrying and pulled out a rather thick book. "This has about everything you could need for house care." She explained before Naruto took a look at it.

'House Care For Dummies.' "Are you making fun of me Shiho-chan?" Naruto asked teasingly. Shiho was a little flustered as she waved her hands franticly trying to dismiss the idea. Naruto just chuckled a bit at her antics.

"Don't worry about it, thanks for the help. Say, would you like to come out to the compound for a monthly get together with me, Ino, Choji, Shikamaru, Romi and Shino?" Naruto asked.

"Me?" Shiho asked meekly. "Well yeah. It's just a get together to stay in contact and hang out from time to time." Naruto explained.

Shiho looked a little conflicted but agreed anyway. Naruto gave her a thumbs up and went to check out the book. Shiho turned to continue her work with a smile on her face.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Naruto and Tenten met Ino, Shikamaru and Choji at the front of the academy as they prepared to get into their new classes. Iruka had asked them all to meet with him in their normal classroom at the start of the day to get their new schedules.

They walked in together and got a smile from Iruka as they sat down next to Romi and Shino. Romi smiled and nodded while Shino gave a barely noticeable nod as well.

They watched a few more classmates enter before they decided to watch a few girls hound Sasuke about what classes he was taking. It made them all sick that they would make their decision on what classes to take on such petty things.

Iruka seemed to hold the same idea as he scattered them and forced them all to sit as far away from Sasuke as he could. There was only a few more minutes and everyone seemed content to wait them out quietly.

"All right, I want to take this chance to explain how the next two years of your academy life will be going. There are currently five classes available for you to take. Nin-jutsu, gen-jutsu, fuin-jutsu, tai-jutsu and ken-jutsu." Iruka started to explain.

"Each class has a morning and afternoon class available to take. Classes will also be an hour longer meaning classes will start an hour earlier and your final class will be over an hour later. These two hours will be spent here in this classroom where I will be going over history, geography, as well as general shinobi knowledge." Iruka continued.

"You will be eating in here with me in the middle of these lessons. A short break will be given to eat and then right back into the studies. Be sure to talk to your teachers, I am personally offering advanced kunai throwing classes after school every monday and friday." Iruka said, taking more than a moment to glance at Tenten.

"All right, go ahead and turn in your registration for the classes you were going to take and I will direct you to what classroom you need to go to." Iruka said before he stood up to gather their papers.

He was annoyed to see a few of the girls quickly scribble down a few classes and he knew they didn't even bother thinking about their future and were just guessing what class Sasuke was going to be taking.

He called everyone up alphabetically and had to stop when he got to Naruto. "Hokage-sama informed me I should let you take all the classes you wanted to. Care to tell me how you are going to take four different classes?" Iruka asked.

Naruto just smirked and made a single seal and with a poof of smoke, an exact copy of himself appeared next to him. "Shadow clone jutsu Iruka-sensei." Naruto stated with a grin.

Iruka almost punched him in the head before he stopped himself. The hokage had to have already known if he gave him permission to take as many classes as he wanted.

He just relented to sigh instead and give Naruto the info on the rooms he needed to go to. "I would go to every class in person at least once a week if I were you. My understanding is that muscle memory won't make its way back to you properly." Iruka lectured.

"I know Iruka-sensei. Hokage-sama and Yugao-baa-chan explained it all to me. You said you were offering advanced kunai throwing classes after class on monday and friday right?" Naruto asked before he headed out.

"Yes, I am offering them open to anyone who has the will to better themselves." Iruka said with a smile. He already knew that he would be seeing Naruto and Tenten at a few of them. Naruto nodded and left for his first classes with a wave.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

As soon as he got out the door he sent his first clone to go to his ken-jutsu classes. Tenten already knew about the clones and he wanted to surprise Ino, Shikamaru and Choji by showing up in their tai-jutsu class.

He opened the door to the class and quickly sat down next to his friends. He sat next to Ino and waved to Choji, Shikamaru, Romi and Shino down the row. "Naruto-kun?!" Ino asked before grabbing him in a hug.

"Hey guys, surprise, I'm also taking tai-jutsu class." He said lamely. "I thought you were taking ken-jutsu with Tenten?" Shikamaru asked as sharp as ever.

"Well Jiji taught me how to make solid clones that would send me all the knowledge of what they learned back to me." Naruto answered back.

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes at that. He knew Naruto had the most chakra out of the entire class and a technique like that had to be costly in terms of chakra. He just muttered how troublesome it was and went back to resting his head on his desk.

Choji noticed Shikamaru wasn't bothering to ask about it so he didn't bother either. Ino on the other hand, went ahead and asked why he didn't share that knowledge with them.

"Well Jiji said I can't teach it to anyone. It's an A-rank forbidden jutsu because of how much chakra it uses. Jiji said I had enough to make one or two for school so he taught me it. He said that if I taught it to anyone he would not allow me to become a ninja though." He said. The last part wasn't exactly correct but it was implied.

"Why is he letting you use it at all?" Ino asked. "Well I kind of begged him for a way to take more classes." Naruto replied sheepishly.

They all just looked at him like he was crazy. He learned an A-rank forbidden jutsu, just to take more classes in the academy.

"So, you have a clone taking ken-jutsu classes with Tenten right?" Choji asked. Naruto just needed before Shikamaru spoke up. "Can you communicate with your clones?" He asked.

Naruto thought about it for a second. "Not directly. I guess if I dispel a clone the rest of my clones get the knowledge it had." He finally said.

Shikamaru thought about it for a moment. "Maybe you could make a seal that could talk through that your clones had as well as you. We can ask our sensei in fuin-jutsu class." Shikamaru replied.

Naruto just nodded as they saw their sensei for their tai-jutsu classes enter the room. They all sighed as soon as they saw him, already knowing this class was going to be hell.

"Good morning students, it is truly a glorious day to train our bodies to peak, physical condition." Their odd sensei shouted as he walked in and took stock of his class.

"This will not do at all. You all need to be pumped up for the joys of physical strength. You all seem to need an example." He said before he flexed and tore the shirt under his open flak jacket to pieces revealing a physique that looked to be chiseled from the purest marble.

He was an absolute hulk of a man standing well over six feet tall. He was a brick wall of muscle and seemed to be in his early thirties. He was almost completely bald and had a thick handlebar mustache. The pale blonde hair matching his pale complexion.

Everyone nearly planted their foreheads directly on their desks as they watched his antics. Naruto decided to at least try and figure him out so he went ahead and asked his name.

"My name is Kenji Utsumi the third young one. Hokage-sama has tasked me with getting you all in shape as only someone who has mastered the training passed down through the Utsumi clan for generations could." He replied loudly.

Everyone cringing a bit and the thought of becoming as bulky as their sensei. He was very weird but he was definitely qualified.

He merely laughed before he started to talk about their new physical routines and plans for the class. He expected everyone to triple their strength in the next two years and nothing else would be enough.

A few people paled at that but Naruto just grinned, relishing the challenge.

Their training would be mostly physical conditioning as well as expanding their tai-jutsu. With their next two years they would be able to learn more than basic styles.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

In another classroom with Tenten and a Naruto clone. Naruto's clone had given a note to their teacher before taking a seat next to Tenten.

He took a quick look around and saw most of their previous ken-jutsu class had stuck with it. A few had probably chose to take it later in the day. The biggest stand out was Sasuke.

They could already see a deep frown on his face at seeing Naruto show up. It was either him for the two fan girls that managed to pick the same class that annoyed the Uchiha.

He was snapped back to the class when he heard his sensei start to speak up.

"Good morning class, my name is Masaki Terasoma. I will be continuing your training in the art of the sword. Hayate-sempai spoke highly of you as a whole and I look forward to teaching you all." He said with a small bow.

"While under my guidance, there will be no overstepping the lines when it comes to spars. If you defeat your partner, you are to cease at once. Both of you will bow to show proper respect to your partner and then await my signal to start again. Any questions?" He asked, taking a look around.

Sasuke grunted in annoyance. The girls that made it into his class also grunted in annoyance. Naruto and Tenten both lightly bowed to their new sensei. He nodded back at them before continuing on with the guidelines of his class.

After a bit, he called for everyone to step forward for him to inspect their training swords. Everyone lined up and their sensei took each of their swords and looked them over before whispering a few words to each of them before sending them back to their seats.

Naruto came up and unsheathed his sword and offered it to his sensei, holding it vertically from the base of the hilt with the blade pointed toward himself. Masaki let a small grin appear on his face as he took the sword and began his inspection.

He could tell that is was custom made and high quality at that. Gazing upon the mark left by the blacksmith told him that Naruto had it built by Higurashi. A good choice. He saw all he needed to and returned the sword to Naruto.

"Your etiquette is respectful and you know quality. Your sword is also in great condition. How long have you had this sword?" Masaki asked.

"Thank you sensei, I have had this sword for nearly a year now." He replied. Masaki just nodded and motioned him to take his seat as Tenten approached.

She followed his lead and offered her swords the same way. Their sensei was slightly confused but brushed it off as he examined her swords. They were in immaculate condition. He might have been more confused by the odd swords if he hadn't gotten word about her and Naruto from his sempai.

After returning the blades he asked for a bit of information on her style with the blades. "It is primarily an extension of my tai-jutsu which is built upon using chakra scalpels to aim for muscles and veins that aren't typically defended as heavily as vitals." She explained earning a thoughtful look from her sensei.

"Truly an interesting style indeed. I will do what I can to help you but it will be alot of self guidance. Do you understand?" He asked with a smile on his face. Tenten nodded before heading back to her seat.

He checked the last few student's swords before turning to everyone as a whole.

"Today we will be learning the proper mindset to in as a swordsman. Hayate-sempai already started you on the basic katas of the village's basic style. I will be solidifying those katas before we move to advancing a style that fits your own build. First, we much train your mind so everyone sit in a lotus position with your sword across your lap and level your breathing and feel your sword as more than a weapon. Feel it as an extension of your body." Their sensei started as he assumed the position and followed his own instructions.

He heard Sasuke scoff as he assumed the position. The Uchiha was already proving to be disrespectful in his class and he was already tempted to remove him from his class. He settled on waiting until he had given him a chance to learn proper respect before deciding on his worth of his class.

As he meditated himself, he expanded his senses around his class. He could feel most of their breathing settle and hearts ease as well. He could see the fan girls peeking at the Uchiha and he was not even trying to follow through with the exercise.

He sighed internally as he wondered what his sempai really meant when he said he saw potential in his entire class. He was starting to assume that most of the promising students would be in his afternoon classes.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

A few hours later, everyone met up in Iruka's classroom. Naruto had dispelled his clone and took a second to absorb all the knowledge from it. He didn't need to take the effort, it just helped him retain the info.

Everyone sat in their old spots and waited on Iruka. He was right on time a few minutes later.

"Well class, we will be going over some more history and general knowledge in this class. We have two hours for this class and will be eating in the middle of it. I am not going to be giving you a full break anymore." Iruka started.

"In a few months, we will also start having mental conditioning. This will involve adapting you to the shinobi attitude. This will be going on until the end of your fourth year. If you cannot handle the darker aspects of the shinobi lifestyle, you will be cut from the program." Iruka said.

A few kids looked at each other, wondering what he meant. "We will get to that in a few months time so for now, we are going to start with learning more about the political side of the third shinobi war." He said turning to the map he had opened at the front of the class.

"In the start, unrest between Kusagakure and Iwagakure put strains on our relations with both of them. We were allied with Kusa and received requests to send shinobi to help secure their borders. Iwa saw this as an act of aggression and doubled their efforts in Kusa." Iruka started.

"We held a firm hold on the defense of Kusa but soon Iwa pulled favor from Kumo and Kiri away from the truces we had with them. Suna had been skirmishing with Iwa for several months prior and had called for a pact for defense against Iwa."

"Suna was able to send reinforcements to Kusa as well as harass supply runs from Iwa to the front lines. That is, until Kumo managed to make it to Kusa as well. They had managed to run through Yugagakure with the help of Iwa reinforcements and started to gain ground."

"Soon after, Kusa started to crumble and we were forced to retreat. Iwa took control of Kusa and started to siege the land of fire from their new position. With Kumo backing them, they started gaining ground and approaching the village."

"Suna had managed to delay Iwa long enough for us to drive Kumo back. With Kumo unable to advance further, we managed to stall out the war for a brief time. Kiri had chosen to withhold from engaging and instead were merely watching the war play out."

"Soon, with Iwa reinforcements finally making it to our borders, Minato Namikazi and his squad were given the mission that would turn the tides of the war. Destroying Kannabi Bridge."

"Kannabi Bridge, was a vital area for the Iwa front lines. It was their direct supply line to the front and without it, they stalled out and were forced to fall back. Seeing Iwa begin to get pushed back, Kumo started to withdraw their troops."

"Seeing both Iwa and Kumo on their back feet, the call was made to give chase. While we pursued Kumo, Suna followed Iwa. That was the decision that led to Kumo's complete defeat."

"Kumo's Raikage stayed behind to cover their retreat. He held off against a nearly two hundred shinobi for a full three days before we finally managed to kill him. By then, the other Kumo ninja had made it out of our reach. With their Kage killed, Kumo was forced to lick their wounds and sit out the rest of the war."

"Suna's Akasuna no Sasori carved a bloody trail through the retreating Iwa shinobi. The war seemed to be coming to an end and shinobi that were on the front lines were finally beginning to get home. The reprieve did not last long however."

"Soon after Iwa's retreat was completed, a summit between Iwa, Suna and Konoha's Kage was called in what was left of Kusagakure. With Kumo loosing their Kage, They had sent a declaration of their surrender beforehand."

"The Hokage and Kazekage had met at the summit and waited for the Tsuchikage to arrive. The treaty between us and Suna was started and finalized at this summit. This all happened while the Tsuchikage never arrived."

"Instead of going to the summit, the Tsuchikage instead used the absence of their kage and his elite guard to strike at Suna and attempt to destroy it in one last ditch effort in retaliation for their previous defeat."

"A message was received approximately thirty hours after the siege began. Our own Third Hokage made a snap decision to give all of the support he had available to save Suna. Hokage-sama and his guards, Jiraiya of the Densetsu no Sannin and Minato Namikaze quickly moved toward Suna."

"Minato Namikaze, with his mastery of the Flying Thunder God Technique, swiftly created six shadow clones and explained his plan. He could send two pairs of shinobi to an area near Suna. He sent Hokage-sama and Jiraiya-sama as well as Kazekage-sama and his guard Sasori to the battlefield."

"Upon reaching the area nearby, Kazekage-sama and Sasori quickly raced to the village to take charge of the defense. Hokage-sama and Jiraiya-sama went directly to the front lines to stall for them to make it and organize the defenses."

"Using their combined prowess in battle, they swiftly broke Iwa's march and served as an immediate beacon of Konoha's firm hold on our alliance. Soon after, Minato Namikaze rejoined the defense of Suna."

"Minato-sama has been hailed as the fastest man of the time. When he hit the battlefield, he singlehandedly turned the tide instantly. By teleporting around the battlefield, he managed to silence nearly twenty percent of the Iwa forces. Suna's counter attack combined with Hokage-sama and Jiraiya-sama's collaboration jutsu, close to thirty percent of their invasion force was wiped out in a single day."

"The Tsuchikage had managed to escape the battlefield, but not unharmed. It was a week later that Iwa's surrender came through. In the following months, heavy penalties were brought down on Iwa. Their foreign missions were sent to other countries as per the daimyo's agreements."

"Without as many missions coming through, Iwa started to fall into a depression. The debts have been repaid and Iwa has since been included into the current non-aggression pact. It has held firm for the last ten years."

"Soon after the war finally ended, Minato Namikaze had been named The Fourth Hokage. With his sharp wit and mind for business, he had tightened the pact and started to expand it to the minor villages. He was unable to finish his quest for peace with his untimely death."

"His name as The Fourth Hokage as well as Konoha's Yellow Flash still hold power and respect among the nations. Now then, let's discuss what that does to the world as of now." Iruka said, taking a moment too look around the class.

Most seemed interested. Some seemed to understand that the past is still permanent. He hoped they understood what that war had truly meant. Scars stayed forever and a truce in a shinobi world was only worth a little more than the paper it was written on.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

 **Well that is a wrap. I hope it is enough to make up for the long delay.**

 **I would love some feedback on the history lesson at the end. It is not cannon but relatively close.**

 **Hopefully it isn't bugging anyone but I have made several mistake with the currency throughout the story. The basic outline I have been going with is 100 ryo = 1 US dollar. It's not perfect but, is a basic guideline.**

 **So basically they are getting 370,000 dollars in the Uzumaki Clan account. It may not seem like much, but the overall cost of living in the village is typically a bit cheaper.**

 **Think similar to the military. There are plenty of places that offer a military discount or something similar and the same is true in my story. Another simple example of costs. A large bowl at Ichiraku Ramen costs roughly 200-300 ryo.**

 **That's two or three bucks. I hope no one thinks I'm completely stupid having Naruto pay 4,000,000 for an eight bedroom, four bathroom guest home. 40,000 US dollars seems relatively cheap to me for such a large house.**

 **My thought process is he already owns the land, It is going to be built using nin-jutsu, as well as Yugao has told him once or twice it isn't a big deal for him to make a house at all.**

 **Four million ryo is still a nice sum of cash. If an average A-rank mission, say two or three weeks. That mission could earn a three man squad from four to six hundred thousand ryo. After taxes, dividing it up, that could be about 150,000 ryo easy. 1,500 bucks US dollars for a two to three week mission. Not bad at all considering you shared that with two other people. Solo missions could make a jonin rich quick.**

 **With the cost of living lower than, well I am used to. 1,500 bucks could go a long way. Really long winded talk there but let me know what you think. Till next time, see you all later.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Welcome back to Trust By My Side. I'm setting a personal goal to get this chapter out in three days and putting this up as incentive. If this doesn't get posted by January 14th, then, well I will have to try harder next time won't I?**

 **Having a new laptop is making this so much less of a chore. I can have stuff on in the background on other computer and it makes it so much easier.**

 **I got a few reviews I couldn't reply to so I am going to address those really quick.**

 **In regards to there not being alot of humor in the story, it's not a comedy. I also want to thank s.k.f.f.f for the continued support. Wasn't able to send a message thanking you so I'll just set it here.**

 **Also want to put up that I am still hosting a kik chat named #TrustByMySide if anyone wants to stop by and talk about the story or just Naruto fanfiction in general.**

 **I'm not even going to wait anymore, let's jump right into Chapter 15 of Trust By My Side.**

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Everyone left Iruka's class in different moods. Some were happy to be out of his class. Others were truly grasping at his lesson. The world was not as peaceful as they originally thought.

With how much bad blood was left from the last war, a new war could start any day. A mental agreement had been made that they would all train even harder to make sure they were ready when they graduated.

With those feelings in their hearts, they all moved to their next classes with purpose. A fierce determination that they hadn't quite felt before pushed them ahead.

Naruto made a clone and sent it with Choji. They both walked into their nin-jutsu class a moment later and quickly took their seats.

"Everyone sit down. My name is Ryuzaburo Otomo. I will be teaching you all how to use nin-jutsu. I was offered the option of ten years with the anbu, or four year in the academy. Anbu was not the life I am in favor of so here I am." Their new sensei explained.

He seemed rather odd to them. He was quite big with a mohawk haircut with a long braid coming off the back. He had a long and thin mustache that only seemed to be only a few hairs and not a full mustache.

He had a chunin vest under a thick, open trench coat. Flat nose and rather sharp eyes made him seem quite fierce in the kids eyes. His voice spoke of a short temper and firm belief in the shinobi system.

"While you are in this school, there will be no unsupervised training. Nin-jutsu is dangerous stuff and rushing in headfirst will get you killed." He explained.

After a moment, he stuck his tongue out and showed everyone exactly what he meant. His tongue was missing a fair chunk as well as a few of his teeth were missing.

"When I was a genin, I saw my teacher shoot a ball of wind out of his mouth and tear a tree in half. Being the stupid kid I was, I managed to remember the hand seals and tried it myself. A quarter of my tongue was cut out, it ripped out four teeth and I spent nearly a month in the hospital before I could talk normally again." Ryuzaburo explained.

"If I catch any of you doing something stupid like that on these school grounds, I will make sure you are never able to return." He finished ominously.

He gave everyone a moment to let that sink in before he reached into his vest. He pulled out a small stack of small papers and started to hand them out.

"This is chakra paper. Hold it between your thumb and index finger and channel some chakra into it. It will determine your chakra affinity." He started as he walked back to the front of the class.

"If it catches fire or turns to ash, fire affinity. If it turns to dust, earth affinity. If it gets soggy, water affinity. It it crinkles up, lightning affinity. If it cuts in half, wind affinity." He explained before he demonstrated.

His paper seemed to crinkle up before it caught on fire. "I have a high lightning affinity as well as fire. It will go off what your chakra is most sensitive to and can change over time. I have a minor water affinity but have not trained it as much as my lightning and fire so it will not show up anymore." He explained as he watched everyone try it themselves.

Naruto's clone took a moment to check out everyone else as well before he tried it. Choji had a strong earth affinity as well as a small water affinity. The clone also heard a few girls cry out about Sasuke's high fire and lightning affinity.

That got a nod from their sensei as he would be easy to teach. Naruto's clone looked back at his paper and shrugged before channeling chakra into it. To say he was shocked would be an understatement.

His paper was sliced to ribbons with most of them becoming soggy. There was one that caught on fire and burned until it hit the ground. The last one had turned to dust. Ryuzaburo quickly made is way to Naruto's desk to look himself.

"Now what do we have here. Kid, that is one of the most unique affinities I have ever seen. Come with me for a moment." He said before he walked out of the room. Naruto's clone followed him and was confused when he saw him going to a different classroom.

He stepped inside and spoke to the teacher for a moment before he came back out with the original Naruto following him.

Ryuzaburo looked at the clone and told it to dispel. The clone shrugged and dispelled itself. Naruto took a moment and realized why he was being pulled out of the classroom.

"Go ahead and make a new clone to sit in on your other class for a moment, we need to talk to the hokage." Ryuzaburo said.

Naruto just nodded and did as he was told. They swiftly made their way to the hokage tower, fortunately it was nearby. They got into his office quickly when they mentioned Naruto.

"Ryuzaburo-san, Naruto-kun, what can I do for you?" Hiruzen asked with a cautious smile. A teacher bringing a student to him was rarely a good thing.

"Hokage-sama, Naruto here has one of the most unique affinities I have ever seen and felt it important enough to bring it to your attention." Ryuzaburo said with a bow.

"Is that so? Well, what affinity does he have?" Hiruzen said with a sigh. He was rather happy that is wasn't bad news at least.

Ryuzaburo quickly pulled out another sheet of chakra paper and handed it to Naruto. Naruto shrugged and channeled chakra into it.

Just like last time the paper was shredded with most being soggy and one turning to dust. The only difference, was this time, the paper that caught on fire did not go out for almost twice as long.

"I see." Hiruzen said slowly, taking his time digesting the new information. "I understand why you brought this to my attention. An academy student with four affinities is rather unique." Hiruzen said as he looked Naruto up and down.

"So I will be able to do wind, fire, water and earth jutsu?" Naruto asked. "Well it means you could learn those faster than you could learn lightning jutsu. Most people have two affinities that are strong enough to show up on the paper." Hiruzen explained.

"Anyone is able to learn any jutsu. Affinity is just what most people use to generally choose their nin-jutsu style. For you, you can learn just about anything without devoting as much time building your affinity from the ground up." Ryuzaburo explained.

Naruto nodded. He already had a general knowledge of affinities. Inu had explained it to him a long time ago. He just didn't remember the details.

"Honestly Naruto, I would recommend focusing on either you wind of water affinity for a start. I know how to train someone to use any affinity, but from your academy records, I would recommend focusing on your water while I am your sensei." Ryuzaburo said.

"Sensei, no offense, but I am going to be learning water jutsu from Yugao-baa-chan. She knows my mother's water style and I would prefer to learn it that way. While in the academy, I was planning to start on an earth and fire affinity." Naruto said.

Ryuzaburo chewed on that for a moment. Naruto had an absurd water affinity as well as wind and yet he wanted to focus on his minor affinities. He knew Yugao, and he knew she had a strong water affinity. He decided it was a good call overall, he just didn't like it.

"I'll be sure to get you started on your wind affinity as well. It is pretty rare in the village and will mostly be self taught. Getting started on it while you are in the academy will help you develop it in the future." He finally said.

Hiruzen just nodded. "He does have a point. My own son Asuma is the only real master of wind jutsu in the village. Not too many others have even bothered to learn much of the advanced manipulation." Hiruzen added.

"What about you Jiji? Iruka-sensei said you had mastered all affinities?" Naruto asked. "Well, that is true I suppose. I never really used my wind affinity too much. Everyone feared me for my fire, earth and water affinity." Hiruzen said a bit sheepishly. He was a bit embarrassed that he wasn't quite as unreal as he was portrayed in the history books.

Just being in the history books made him old. He shook it as he heard Naruto and Ryuzaburo begin to leave. He waved to them as they left and thought about it some more. He needed to get himself back in shape as well. It wouldn't do any god to be called called ''The God of Shinobi" and not be able to back that up.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Back in the academy, Naruto's clone was going back through the fuin-jutsu class so far in his head. Their sensei seemed to be relatively normal. At least by academy standards.

She was in her mid thirties, a bit tall, fair skin, dark eyes and a very womanly build that did not quite seem shinobi. At first glance he had thought she was a civilian if not for the chunin vest and white trench coat.

She seemed to have a soft yet firm expression on her face. Her hair was up in a pony tail and box braids. Naruto could also see an anbu tattoo plain as day on her left collarbone.

Her name was Shoko Tsuda. She described herself as a simple housewife. She may have very well been telling the truth until she asked if anyone had any experience with fuin-jutsu.

Naruto had raised his hand and pulled out a storage seal he had put together. He was not prepared for the reaction he got. After taking all of two seconds to look at it, she quickly tore it in four pieces and tossed it in the air. She went through a few hand seals before catching the pieces in the palm of her hand. The pieces then violently combusted into flames.

She have Naruto a death glare before her expression turned calm again and simply said 'Not bad' before continuing on with the lesson.

If Naruto hadn't been a clone, he may have ruined his pants. The rest of the lesson had gone rather slow for Naruto's clone's taste. They were strictly working on their calligraphy.

The real Naruto came back after a little while and swapped back out with his clone. He dispelled it and made a new one to send back with Ryuzaburo to nin-jutsu class.

The turnout for fuin-jutsu class was rather meager to Naruto. Himself, Tenten, Shikamaru, Romi, Shino and a rather scared looking civilian boy. Naruto thought his name was Shu but never talked to him.

As he got back to his desk, Romi gave him a confused look and Tenten just quirked her head at him. Shikamaru just shrugged and went back to what he was doing. Shino just nodded and did the same. He just nodded letting them know that he was the real one. He told Romi it was just a headache from his other class.

She knew about the clones from tai-jutsu class and assumed this was the real one and that the clone in nin-jutsu class had gotten in trouble. She chuckled a bit and went back to work.

Naruto looked down at the papers his clones had been working on. His calligraphy was all right at this point. He thought about what he had did wrong on his storage seal he had made. He would ask at the end of class.

Toward the end of class, Sensei, she didn't like being called Shoko-sensei for some reason, called them to hand over their calligraphy pages. It was simply a page that they needed to copy several of the more common kanji used in fuin-jutsu over and over again.

She quickly went through them and marked a few notes at the bottom of everyone's pages. Stuff like which ones they needed to do again, what they did wrong and what they needed to do before next class.

She had passed them all off to each of her students as they went by out the door. Naruto stopped and turned to her. "Sensei, are you offering any classes after school?" He asked her.

"Fuin-jutsu theory to help people get the right mindset for it when they have to take the official class in their next two years. I usually stay late on Wednesday if you want to stop by. Amazing how few people show any interest in the theory." She lamented.

Naruto just nodded and agreed to see her then. She just laughed as he ran out the door to catch up with Tenten. They both met up outside of Iruka-sensei's room before going in. They weren't shocked to see that they were the only ones that went to the extra class.

They both had the thought that they would be dragging at least one of their friends back on Friday. They sat down for a full five minutes before they decided to get Iruka's attention. He didn't look up when they came in.

"Ah, you two. Here for advanced kunai lessons?" Iruka said, a bit embarrassed at not acknowledging them when they came in. He didn't think anyone would show up on the first day.

"You know it Iruka-sensei." Naruto said cheerfully. Iruka nodded as he shuffled a few pages around on his desk before getting up and walking to the door. He motioned them to follow and led them to the training range.

When they arrived, they realized that Iruka-sensei was rearranging the targets and even unsealed a few different ones. These had bulky wooden armor stylized in various other nation's armor.

Iruka made a hand sign and they all started to move in random patterns around the training ground and the trees behind it. They already realized that this was going to be a lot harder.

Just the fact that half of the throws would be almost twice as far away as they were used to in the academy made them even more determined. They had been practicing longer throws at home and they both knew they could do it.

"All right you two, no more holding back. I have seen how you have been throwing during your tests and in practice and I have to say that you were holding back quite effectively. None of the other instructors could tell." Iruka told them seriously.

They both nodded and stretched out. Naruto looked at Tenten and they both nodded to each other. They both pulled out small scrolls and unsealed pouches similar to the ones they normally wore.

"What is up with the different pouches?" Iruka finally asked as they strapped them to their legs. They looked to be a bit newer if the color difference was to be believed.

"These are the kunai we use at home." Naruto replied. "What's the difference?" Iruka asked again. Tenten just shrugged and pulled an old and new kunai out of her pass and tossed them to Iruka.

He plucked them both out of the air and looked them over. The older ones seemed to be pretty standard issue kunai. Not exactly unlike the ones he carried himself.

The new ones however, they were far nicer. Inspecting them closer he could tell they were a bit heavier and that the grips were tough leather instead of heavy cloth like standard issue.

They looked very worn yet well maintained. It dawned on him after a few moments. "Are these anbu quality?" He asked as he handed them back.

"Yup. We realized at the start of last year that we were having extra money we didn't need from the academy. We take care of our gear so it lasts far longer than most other student's gear. We decided to spend the leftover on the best kunai we could afford. We also realized they would probably get stolen here so he kept them hidden at school." Tenten replied.

Iruka nodded and subconsciously ran his hand on his own pouch. He had been teaching with the same set for almost three years now. He had a small grin appear when he realized with his new pay increase he could afford a few upgrades himself.

"We figured if we were able to use two completely different sets of kunai at home and school, we would not be impaired if we were forced to pick a set off of an enemy shinobi." Naruto added.

Iruka nodded again, a bit slower though. He had heard a few stories from teachers that used to be heavy front line soldiers. He would have thought they were crazy otherwise.

He just shook his head and sighed. "Anyway, like I said, no more holding back. I want to know exactly how good you are with kunai. I hope to be able to teach you how to toss in different situation as well eventually how to deflect kunai." Iruka lectured.

"Uhh, Iruka-sensei. We can already do that though." Naruto piped up. "All right, how do you normally train then?" He asked with a bit of worry in his voice.

Deflecting kunai was not easy. The thought of a genin with two years experience with weapons was a bit worrying. Granted, he knew not to underestimate these two students in particular.

They both just shrugged and started taking off their weights. Tenten started to look out at the moving targets until she saw one she liked. She tossed a kunai that barely hit the target but stuck in firmly. "That one." She said before she took off in a run sideways and tossed another kunai.

Iruka could tell that one would hit until it was knocked out of the air by another kunai. He looked and saw Naruto pull his arm back and start to run in the opposite direction as Tenten.

Naruto had pulled another kunai and tossed his at the target. Just like last time it was knocked out of the air by Tenten's kunai this time. They repeated that two more times before the gap between tosses got quicker.

After five tosses Tenten threw one with her right hand to deflect Naruto's and one with her left right after at the target. Naruto cursed under his breath as he threw one with his left as well. He started to run toward Tenten as soon as he threw it.

He quickly pulled out a shuriken from his other pouch and tossed it at Tenten in the same motion he threw the kunai in his hand at the target.

Tenten, without taking her eyes off the target spun a kunai into her left hand and deflected the shuriken straight up into the air.

She tossed her kunai at the target before grabbing the shuriken out of mid air and flinging it back at Naruto. Naruto quickly unsheathed his ninjato and smacked the shuriken out of the air before tossing three shuriken at the target and one more at Tenten.

Tenten sighed and grabbed three of her own shuriken and knocked Naruto's out of the air. She pulled one of her butterfly swords out of its sheath and deflecting it upward once again. She didn't drop her sword as she grabbed the shuriken on it's drop back to the ground.

With the same hand she tossed the shuriken straight toward Naruto's foot making him jump slightly to avoid it. She capitalized by drawing her other sword and blocking Naruto's off balanced strike.

He pulled a kunai into his off hand and pushed Tenten's blocking sword out and away from her. He spun halfway around to stab at her and she pushed it in the direction he was spinning causing him to spin further than he was anticipating.

Naruto dropped to the ground to dodge the swipe from her left sword as he kicked Tenten in the back of the knee, disrupting her balance. He tossed his kunai to the target and swiftly swiped the kunai she had tossed to block it out of the air.

There was a resounding thud throughout the small area as Naruto sheathed his ninja-to and helped Tenten up and dust her off.

Iruka just stood there with his mouth hung open. An academy student able to knock kunai out of mid air consistently was unreal. Maybe if they had the Sharingan or even Byakugan he could believe it.

He knew chunin that could hardly pull that off, let alone be able to do it while under fire. The overprotective teacher in him wanted to yell at them for being so reckless but he realized they were throwing dulled shuriken at each other and not their anbu kunai.

Iruka just relented to start trying to ease his growing headache. He had a limit to what he could teach in the academy. These two were already pushing the limits of what he was allowed to teach.

"All right you two, round up your gear. I am going to have to talk to Hokage-sama about what I can actually teach you. There is a limit to what is considered 'safe' and you are well past that." He said.

Naruto and Tenten just shrugged and gathered up their gear. After taking a quick look at all of their kunai and shuriken they put them away and met up with Iruka-sensei.

"What other weapons do you know how to throw Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked. "Just about anything. Kunai, shuriken, senbon, fuma shuriken." Iruka said before Tenten stopped him.

"Can you teach us how to throw fuma shuriken Iruka-sensei?" She asked a bit excitedly. "Sure, probably the safest thing I can teach you honestly." He said as he laughed a bit.

He pulled a scroll out of his vest and rolled it out onto the small table that was laid out at the range. He unsealed the large shuriken and picked it up.

"Now, this is a fuma shuriken. It throws in a similar way to normal shuriken but it is much bulkier and requires much more force." Iruka lectured. He showed them how to hold them and how to unfold them.

He went through the motions slowly so they could see it. Once he was satisfied that they could pick up the weapons without instantly slicing their arms off and told them to stand back.

Iruka folded it up and placed it on his back as we walked to the throwing line. He snapped his head up and jumped straight up. He bent back a bit as he pulled the fuma shuriken off his back and swiftly opened it.

It started to spin in his hand as he reached the peak of his jump. He straightened up and then leaned into the throw as he brought his arm around. His arm made a wide arc as it let the shuriken loose. It was spinning fast and rotated through the air before it made it to the target.

They weren't really sure what kind of damage the giant shuriken would make but they weren't ready for it to make a slice clean through the targets head and stick almost a solid foot into the chest of the target behind it.

"That was awesome Iruka-sensei." Naruto nearly shouted as he started to run up range to check out the damage. Tenten followed quickly after him and checked it out herself.

Iruka let out a quiet sigh. He would need to practice some more, he was drying to split both targets in half. Shaking his head, he followed them to the targets.

His aim was at least still good. Prying the fuma shuriken out of the last target he handed it off to Tenten. He might as well teach them how to toss them. Knowing them, they would come to class tomorrow with a dozen of them.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

A few more months had passed. Classes had been going great. Naruto, Tenten, Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, Romi and Shino had all kept themselves close to the top of all of their classes.

Naruto taking the lead in fuin-jutsu, Choji in tai-jutsu and Tenten in ken-jutsu class. Ino was also standing out in gen-jutsu class and rumors were spreading that she was a prodigy in the art.

Naruto was also being hailed as a prodigy but he brushed those compliments to the side and ignored them. They would only serve to give him a big head if he acknowledged them. That was one of the few things he remembered Itachi teaching him.

Naruto kept finding himself thinking about the deserter Uchiha as of late. The calls of prodigy serving as a constant reminder. Being compared to him from time to time was another reason.

Seeing the fury in Sasuke's face at being compared to his older brother in terms of nin-jutsu skill was always a highlight in his eyes.

Nin-jutsu class was getting them through the start of manipulating their element. Naruto had decided to ask for direction on how to start all of his elements and would make a clone for each element when he got home.

In class, he focused on his fire element. He found his clones tended to have a harder time with it than he did. After a brief talk with the fox after meditating too hard, he learned it was because his fire affinity came directly from the fox.

While the clones could do the jutsu, they had limited access to the foxes chakra running through them. In Naruto, it was a constant trickle through his chakra system. The clones only had as much as they were made with, and that wasn't much.

Tenten had been working with the fuma shuriken and her ken-jutsu mostly. Her calligraphy had quickly caught up to passable levels and chakra control was good. Since she wasn't in the nin-jutsu classes, she had to rely on second hand knowledge from Naruto and the twice weekly extra classes.

Ryuzaburo-sensei's classes were after school on Tuesday and Thursday. He mostly focused on a bit more advanced chakra control and elemental manipulation.

His goal was if someone were to come to every class, they should be able to walk on water within around six months. Naruto and Tenten got it down in three.

They had started dragging their friends to a few of the extra classes as well. Shikamaru and Romi usually went to the fuin-jutsu theory classes when they were available. Ino and Choji both went to nin-jutsu extra classes most of the days.

Naruto even managed to drag Shino to a few of Iruka-sensei's throwing classes. Naruto helped him with an idea of throwing hollow handled kunai that hid bugs in them. Naruto had given Shino a dozen he had custom made for him.

Iruka had to commend them on the ingenuity. Iruka volunteered to test them as well. He had Shino toss one at him. As soon as he blocked it, a dozen beetles swarmed out and got inside his clothes.

Iruka nodded as soon as he realized he probably would have fallen for the trick if he didn't know about it before hand.

Naruto had originally ordered the hollow kunai to hide a tag inside it to throw shrapnel outward when it detonated. It would also serve to hide the tag and make someone less likely to notice it and try to block it instead of jumping away.

Shino had liked the hollow kunai and decided to discuss the possibilities with his father. Before leaving, Naruto had told him if his dad liked them he should order them from Higurashi and tell them the Uzumaki clan sent them.

He ended up explaining that he had a deal with Higurashi and any business Naruto sent his way would net him a discount. Shino had given a slight grunt and nod which was the equivalent to him busting out laughing.

Naruto was snapped out of his recollections at the sound of Iruka clearing his throat. "All right class, today is the day that we will be starting emotional hardening. There are two options for this. The long and easy way, or the short and hard way." Iruka said as he got up and started passing out papers.

Naruto took a look and started to read it. The gist of it was for a parent or guardian to understand what was going to be happening with their kids.

They were all going to be taking a test of some kind that would change them forever. If it worked as intended, they would lose a bit of unnecessary emotion and hesitation that could get them killed in the field.

Naruto noticed one other thing at the bottom. It was a spot for a guardian's signature. It read, ' I, _ do hereby state that _ has completed emotional training to meet academy standards and is fit to take standardized conditioning.'

Naruto quirked his head at that before Iruka continued talking. "Now, many of you are from shinobi families. Any chunin or higher shinobi that is a legal parent of guardian may sign at the bottom and state that you have passed through sufficient emotional training to continue in the academy." Iruka said.

"You will all be given two weeks to have completed your initial conditioning. If you wish to take the long and easy way, come back tomorrow and we will get you started. If you would rather take the fast and hard way then there will be a man by the name or Morino Ibiki that will meet with no more than three of you at the front of the academy every day at dawn." Iruka finished.

The mention of his name sent a chill down Ino's spine that Naruto and Tenten caught. She just shook her head and waved them off. They would ask her after class.

"A word of warning before you leave. If any of you are not completed with your conditioning by the end of your two week break, you will be presented with an ultimatum. Go through hell, or don't come back ever again." He said ominously.

Classed for the rest of the day were canceled so that the student's could talk with their guardians for long enough to make an informed decision on what path to take.

This was always the hardest part to go through for Iruka. The academy council had managed to work out two weeks break and a bit easier way to go through the conditioning. Iruka still remembered his time as a student.

Times were much harder back then. His test came in the form of executing a bandit with his hands. If he flinched, which he did, he had to do it again. Iruka was one of the better students that got it done the second time around. Some took four of five times.

Iruka shivered himself wondering what Ibiki had gotten authorized to do to the poor kids. He was glad that there were relatively few civilian kids this rotation.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

"Baa-chan, we need to talk to you." Naruto yelled as he knocked on her door. She came out a moment later and took a look at how Naruto was standing. A bit concerned, but determined.

"What can I help you with Naruto-kun?" She asked. "We got to do emotional conditioning in the next two weeks and were wondering if you could put us through it." Naruto said.

Yugao thought about it for a moment. "Well, I can put you through it Naruto-kun. I am your legal guardian. Unfortunately I cannot sign off for Tenten." She said with a slightly softer expression on her face.

Tenten was a little disappointed. She had the thought before but to hear her suspicions were true still stung.

"So it looks like we are doing it the academy way. Long and easy or quick and hard. What method do you want to go through?" Naruto asked, completely disregarding the possibility of Yugao writing him off if he couldn't go through it with Tenten.

"We might as well go the quick way, we will have more time to train that way." Tenten replied. Yugao was a bit shocked at how fast Naruto disregarded her but knew he would do anything for Tenten.

"Did they say what the quick way was?" Yugao asked. "No idea, we were just told to meet some guy name Morino Ibiki at the school at dawn." Naruto said, not thinking it was all too big a deal.

Seeing Yugao flinch at the name triggered Tenten's danger sense but Naruto's unending confidence eased her mind. Yugao saw her posture change and realized they were going no matter what and that they would be fine.

"We should go talk to Ino-chan, I think she knows the guy. Might be even faster if we go with her too." Naruto said before grabbing Tenten's hand and nearly dragging her out of the compound. He waved to Yugao with his other hand before disappearing outside the compound a moment later.

Yugao just shrugged and started to read the paper. She was relieved to read that the conditioning was approved by Hokage-sama so it couldn't be too bad.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Naruto and Tenten walked into Yamanaka flowers only a few minutes later to find Ino slouched over the counter looking defeated. "What's wrong Ino-chan?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto-kun, Tenten-chan, what are you two doing here. Uhh, daddy said he wouldn't help me through the conditioning and that I had to do it the academy way." She nearly cried out.

"Well we were going to go through it the quick way and spend the rest of the break training. Want to come with us tomorrow and get it over with?" Tenten asked.

"The quick way. You are going to go with Ibiki? Are you crazy?" She nearly shouted. "Who is Ibiki anyway?" Naruto asked.

"He is one of daddy's work partners, he is in charge of T&I." Ino nearly yelled. "Oh so he works with Anko-chan? He can't be worse than her so let's do it. Iruka said you go in groups of three so why not go with us tomorrow?" Naruto asked.

Ino stared at him for a solid minute before he snapped his fingers in front of her face. "Anko-chan? She is completely insane and how do you know her well enough to call her chan?" Ino asked.

"Oh she is friends with Yugao-baa-chan. She comes over every month to play poker and catch up with her. I met her a long time ago too and I guess she liked me. She is almost like my crazy half aunt or something." Naruto said as he thought about it for a bit.

Ino was shocked. She had met Anko and Ibiki a few times when her father invited them over to unwind after a difficult case. Seeing someone she was friends with call her nearly family was a bit odd if nothing else.

She eased up a bit at that after a moment. "I guess we can do it tomorrow. Let's go for tea at least after we get out. I get the feeling we are going to need it after dealing with Ibiki." Ino lamented. She had no idea why she decided to go. Naruto was just very relaxing she guessed.

"All right. We will pick you up about an hour before dawn. We can walk to the academy and wait to make sure we are the first ones to go through it." Naruto said with a bit of enthusiasm in his voice.

This made Ino sigh even harder. She would talk to her father and hopefully get a bit of advice on how to deal with Ibiki. Any advantage was welcomed.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Naruto and Tenten made their way to the Yamanaka household. They had spend most of the day training and then meditating to prepare for today. They had no idea what to expect but they knew it was going to be a difficult test.

They both had already taken the oath to join the shinobi ranks and would do anything to make it. They were both worried about Ino still. She seemed to be afraid of Ibiki and that had made them a little nervous.

They made it to the Yamanaka household with plenty of time to make it to the academy. Ino had met them out front with a thermos of some strong black tea. They decided to make it the academy with nearly thirty minutes until they were supposed to meet Ibiki.

Tenten had brought some dango they picked up on the way and they sat and relaxed while they waited. Iruka-sensei made it the academy about ten minutes after them and stopped to talk to them.

"Are you all here to meet me or Ibiki?" Iruka asked. "Ibiki. Having the extra time to train will be worth taking the harder path." Naruto elaborated.

Iruka nodded and made his way into the academy leaving them alone for the rest of their waiting. They finished their light breakfast and stood to wait the last few minutes.

They were sipping their tea as they watched the path into the academy courtyard. Three people made their way into the courtyard. The chill that went through Ino's spine told them that one of them was Ibiki.

The call of 'Gaki' instantly put Naruto on guard. He pulled out a kunai and flipped it backward in his hand out of habit.

The action got him a chuckle in his ear. "Gaki is that any way to greet me after so long?" Anko whispered in his ear. "It has been only two weeks Anko-chan." Naruto said back, pulling the kunai out of her armpit.

They were both snapped out of their greeting by a boisterous laugh. "This kid has some balls doesn't he?" The man in a black trench coat said.

"You have no idea Ibiki. This is the kid I told you about. He has brought so many new playthings for us over the years." Anko practically purred. Ibiki just chuckled some more.

"So that would make him Naruto Uzumaki then. I recognize little Ino-chan but who are you?" Ibiki asked Tenten. "I'm Tenten. Good to meet your Ibiki-san." She replied, bowing slightly cautiously.

The third person finally spoke up. "Respectful, yet she seems to know you at least a little Ibiki-san." He said. "Sounds like you have made your choice Aoba-san. Fine with me. I will take Ino-chan with me and that leaves you Naruto-san Anko." Ibiki said.

Ino's eyes widened a bit before she felt Naruto's hand on her shoulder. She sighed and realized he was wishing her luck. She nodded to herself and looked Ibiki in the eyes. The grin on his face was strong but understanding. It didn't seem to fit him much.

"All right Gaki, let's go. The sooner we can get this over with the sooner we can get some dango." Anko said as she started to push him in a direction.

Naruto started walking as he reached into the box he had with him and pulled out the last dango stick he had saved just in case this happened. Anko snatched it out of his hands. "That's why your my favorite." She said in between bites.

It was a rather quick trip to their destination. The only talking was Ino asking Anko what she meant by Naruto sending them new playthings. "Interrogating the interrogators, brave or silly I wonder." Ibiki mused as he ignored her for the most part.

"We are here." Aoba said as they approached a rather non-suspicious looking building. Naruto and Tenten looked confused but Ino's heart sank. T&I headquarters. She had been to the front offices a few time to deliver food and clothes to her father when he had to stay for a few days at a time.

Naruto saw Ino start to slouch and poked her in the side making her jump. She looked at him with promises of pain and suffering until she realized that she had turned all of her focus on him. The T&I building was almost completely forgotten.

He managed to do that every time she was feeling down or scared. She still hadn't figured out how he did it but sighed and kept walking into the building.

"Sign your name here and follow me." Ibiki said pointing to a scroll resting on the front desk. They all did and were ushered into a long stone tunnel under the building. Naruto almost walked into Tenten because of how dark it was. His eyes quickly adjusted and he was starting to hear yells up ahead.

He started to get an idea of what they were going to be doing. Anko was getting excited being close to the action again and it was creeping Ino out.

They got to the end of the tunnel and saw a set of stairs that went deeper underground. They were stopped before they got there and Ibiki started to talk.

"All right listen up. This is T&I. Here, every enemy shinobi, missing-nin and the odd bandit are held here. We do not ask for information nicely. If they don't talk, we are authorized to do anything in our power to get that information." Ibiki started.

He pulled his bandana off revealing his very scarred head. "This is what happens when you get caught. This is what we do to those we catch. It has saved many lives and has brought important information about our enemies." He explained before putting his bandana back on.

"You are here to be emotionally conditioned to get the attitude of a shinobi. If you hesitate on the field at the sight of blood or getting you first kill, you will die. If you can't stomach torturing an enemy you capture, you could lose you teammates. We will break you of that right here and now." He said firmly.

They were all nervous but stood their ground. Ibiki nodded at that and led Ino into the last room. Aoba tapped Tenten on the shoulder and led her to the third room leaving the middle room for Anko and Naruto.

"All right Gaki, looks like it's finally time to have some fun." Anko said as she licked her lips in anticipation. "Whatever you say Anko-chan. Let's just hurry up and get to the dango." Naruto said, shaking the last of his nerves off. "Then let's not keep our guest waiting." She said as she opened the door.

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 **That's a wrap folks. Glad to get this out in the three days I was hoping for. Not going to be a normal thing but its nice to do it from time to time.**

 **Actually getting this chapter out as fast as I did was great. Really excited about it. With this chapter, we have passed 100k words and that was a big goal to hit when I started writing.**

 **I don't really have much else to say here so just going to end it there. Hope to see everyone in the next chapter. Cya then.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Welcome back once again. I have to say that I feel a bit bad leaving on a cliffhanger. I try not to do it all the time but felt like a good time to do it.**

 **It has also come to my attention that #TrustByMySide doesn't work for kik anymore. You have to scan a kik code apparently. I should have changed my profile picture to the code you need to scan to join by now. Any questions just message me.**

 **I also want to congratulate Mark on his intimate knowledge on glue. His knowledge on the subject leads me to believe he has been learning about it for a long time now. (Kik chat joke)**

 **I'm not even going to write anymore here and just get right into Chapter 16 of Trust By My Side.**

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Naruto crinkled his nose as he stepped into the room. The smell of blood, and other bodily fluids he would rather not think about assaulted his nose.

Anko just grinned at his face. She was used to it after all. The smell was coming from a rather broken looking man, bound to the chair with his head covered with a bag. He was naked and the scars and many puncture wounds told Naruto he had been here a few days.

"Well Gaki, this will be your test. Currently, this man has committed crimes against the village that call for his death. He could have information that could help the village, but the odds of that are next to nothing. You will torture him until you harden up and then either kill him or leave him to be tortured more." Anko said completely seriously.

"That's it?" Naruto asked in an even tone. Anko just smirked. "As soon as that sack comes off his head, he will be able to see and hear everything you say. This is for your academy conditioning and a grade. Don't half ass it." Anko said.

"Well do I get any back story about this guy? Is he a ninja? What are his crimes? How long as he been here?" Naruto asked. Anko grinned even more at these questions. He already understood some of what was expected of him.

"Kurano Itsuni. Genin of Iwagakure. Age fifteen. He was a member of a four man squad caught staking out trading routes between Suna and Kusa. Suna left his torture in our, capable, hands." Anko said with a cocky grin.

"This dude is only fifteen? He is a brick wall, what they hell do they feed them in Iwa?" Naruto asked. "Rocks more than likely." Anko said offhandedly.

Naruto just nodded. "Listen, there is really no real specifics that you need to torture out of him. You could try to get him to tell you what color underwear he wears, as long as you torture him." Anko explained.

"So his chakra is sealed I would guess. Is this room going to leak chakra if I use any?" Naruto asked. "Nope. This room is sound and chakra proof. The little window on the door is even blacked out while we are in here." Anko explained.

"Sweet. Let's do this then." Naruto said as he motioned to the bag on the guy's head. Anko just smirked and ripped the bag off and stepped back into the corner.

Naruto waited for Anko to get out of the way and smacked the prisoner as hard as he could. "Wake up dumbass! You are done sleeping. You can sleep when your dead." Naruto shouted into his ear.

The prisoner cringed a bit as his eyes adjusted to the lights again. He finally got a good look at Naruto and started screaming his head off. Shouting many obscenities about 'Yellow Flash' and 'Ghosts'.

Naruto managed to regain his composure pretty quick. He remember the name Yellow Flash from history with Iruka. He was the Fourth Hokage. He also remembered looking at his picture and Naruto noticed a bit of a resemblance.

Naruto just seemed to stare at the guy while he was screaming. In reality, he was having a rather interesting conversation in his head.

"Kyuubi-dono, can you hear me?" He said in his head. "Yes I can hear you boy. I have told you several times that the mental link is far easier to reach now that your chakra capacity has increased." The Kyuubi replied.

"Sorry, I was wondering if you wanted to scare the piss out of some Iwa idiot. I am still a years from getting out and killing so I was wondering if you thought it would be fun." Naruto said to his tenant.

"Why not, his screaming is keeping me awake so might as well get what fun I can out of it. Just make sure you shut him up afterward." Kyuubi said as he stood up in his cage and stretched. "My chakra is ready when you are." He said after a moment.

Naruto nodded to himself before he smacked the Iwa shinobi to silence him. "I am not the Yellow Flash you dumbass." Naruto yelled at him. The Iwa shinobi blinked realizing he was just hit and was not dead.

He looked at Naruto closely this time before laughing. "Your just a fucking kid. That's rich. You damn tree huggers must really be scraping the bottom of the barrel if you are having kids torture people." He said between laughs.

Naruto just leveled his eyes at the man before whispering. "I am something far worse." After he finished saying that, he blinked slowly, opening his eyes, they were now glowing red and were slitted.

His whisker marks were much darker and a thin red veil was surrounding him. The prisoner quick laughing and swallowed hard. "Now, who ordered you to harass the nice people of Kusa?" Naruto asked in a far sweeter voice than his looks appeared to be capable of.

The Iwa-nin tried to spit in Naruto's face but was shocked to see it evaporate before it hit him. "Wrong answer." Naruto said before he gently poked the tip of the Iwa-nin's finger.

The second Naruto's hand made contact, the flesh on it started to tingle, then burn and finally start to melt after about five seconds. "Fuck you damn demon." He managed to shout out after Naruto removed his finger from the Iwa-nin's finger.

"Wrong answer." Naruto said again, slightly more demonic this time. This time he placed two fingers on the back of the ninja's hand. The burning was far more painful, and also far slower.

It took fifteen seconds before the flesh on his hand started to melt. After fifteen seconds, Naruto stopped, picking his fingers up off his hand. There were now two finger tip sized holes in his flesh and the bones underneath were showing.

Naruto did not say anything, just kept eye contact as he slowly pressed three fingers onto the man's wrist. After about twenty seconds, the man's flesh was starting to burn and he suddenly shouted "Orders."

"Who's orders?" Naruto asked. After five seconds he didn't get an answer and he went back to pressing three fingers onto his wrist. The man screamed as the skin melted away but kept his mouth shut.

After the skin was gone, Naruto grabbed the man's elbow and bared his now sharpened teeth. The burning came slow, slow but steady.

It was a minute later when the first drop of the man's skin hit the ground. His screams were nearly deafening with how close Naruto was to the man but he ignored it.

He had sworn to become a shinobi and protect the village and it's allies. That included Suna and Kusa. This dick had been ordered to do something that endangered those allies and he would make sure to know why.

Nearly all of the skin was melted away and Naruto decided to start squeezing. The man screamed louder as his elbow was snapped.

"You really don't seem to understand your place. I was told that your participation in bettering the future of the village gave you a chance to return home. Of course that is only if my instructor over there feels I tortured you enough. Knowing her, I doubt she will consider you tortured enough until you are dead. The only other way you are making it home is if you tell me something she doesn't know. If not, well, I have been known to have a rather cannibalistic voice in my head." Naruto said, leaving the treat open to his judgment.

What Naruto had managed to stumble upon was that Anko was indeed his handler during his time in T&I. Naruto then grabbed the man's thigh, very close to his crotch. very tightly. The burning from demonic chakra poisoning spreading fast.

Anko had used several of her snake's poisons on the poor fool already. Nothing could compare to the pain running through his body. The location was not helping. Naruto was also making an effort of spreading the toxic chakra through his entire lower body.

"Unrest." He managed to choke out before Naruto removed his hand from his thigh. "Hmmmm." He drawled on in a drawn out manner Anko does from time to time.

He didn't seem to want to talk after that so Naruto, slowly, open his mouth and show him all of his sharp teeth and slowly reach closer and closer to his neck. Naruto's teeth barely scraped his neck before the guy started screaming everything.

"We were just scouts. A hit squad was supposed to relieve us after a week and frame you damn tree huggers for assassinating the caravan owner. That's all I know don't eat me." He screamed before Naruto grabbed his head and shoved the Kyuubi's chakra into his head.

His eyes rolled into the back of his head as it knocked him out. Naruto took a breath and the oppressive aura around him disappeared and his features returned to normal.

He looked to Anko only to see her practically salivating at the display she just saw. That was one of the most brutal interrogation she had seen in a while. She also was rather annoyed by the kid's screaming after a while.

Ibiki focused more on the mental part of torture and Aoba mostly tried reading minds. Naruto had just gotten more information out of the kid than she had after hours of slow torture.

She was snapped out of her thoughts by Naruto snapping her fingers in front of her face. "So do I pass or did I have to kill him to pass?" Naruto asked, already back to normal after everything.

"Uhh, yeah, Gaki I didn't think you had that in you. Why the hell are you wasting your time in the academy. I would take you as my apprentice in a heartbeat if you wanted to. T&I suits you very well." She said.

Naruto just shrugged. "I have too much chakra to not be spending it on the field." He said shortly before walking to stand by the door. Anko just sighed, too bad, she let him out and they waited on a bench in the hall put in for this situation.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

As soon as Tenten got into her room she noticed the same smells as Naruto. "Well then, this is your test. This man is a captured Iwa genin. His team was caught spying on caravans between Kusa and Suna. Since we are allies, Suna sent them to us for interrogation." Aoba said.

"So what am I supposed to do?" Tenten said with determination. "Torture him and gather whatever intelligence you can. He has been deemed disposable so don't worry about killing him." Aoba explained.

"His team, so I am guessing Naruto and Ino are torturing his teammates then?" Tenten asked, mostly to herself. "That is correct. When I take his hood off, he will be able to see and hear again. Good luck." He said as he ripped the hood off and stepped to the corner of the room.

Tenten studied his face for a moment. He was rather bulky looking. Typical Iwa shinobi she thought. He was very broad and boring overall. Bald, scarred, and covered in vomit.

She decided to think about it for a moment before starting. He was asleep so she had time still. She looked around the room and saw several tools for torture. She wished she had listened more when Inu had told them stories about what he had to do in anbu to get information like Naruto had.

She didn't think about Naruto that long, he could do this easy. She was worried about Ino though. Those thoughts didn't last long as she got back to the task at hand. What she could remember was what she went with and tossed a kunai with some wire into the ceiling.

She grabbed her small canteen she had with her and poked a tiny hole in the bottom. She then tied it to the wire and positioned it above the Iwa-nin. It took a second, but a very slow and steady drip started to land right on his bald head.

After a minute, he finally woke up. "The fuck, bringing in a little girl to torture me now. I could use a bath at least." He said with a chuckle.

He had said two sentences and he had already managed to piss Tenten off. Being looked down on because she was a girl was one of the few things that pissed her off.

Tenten just sighed and went over to the table of torture tools. Normally she would be asking questions about what each tool was used for but now she didn't even care.

She wasn't really interested in any of them and just wanted to shut this guys mouth. She opted for a senbon.

"So now its time for acupuncture is it? You are still a pretty little thing, how bout you strip for me first." The man said while still laughing.

Tenten just smiled at him before throwing it as hard as she could. She sunk it through his hand, right in the joint connecting his thumb. It broke it and stuck deep in the chair he was tied too.

"Ahh, fuck you bitch!" He yelled at her. He barely got the words out of his mouth before she spiked another senbon through his pinkie finger on the same hand this time.

"Damn it you cunt!" He yelled as she did the same with his middle finger. "Damn it." He said, biting back the pain. Tenten held the next senbon at the ready until he didn't call her a demeaning name.

"Good, seems I need to teach you manners first. If you are good, I might get you a nice tasty rock as a treat." She said and she picked up a chuck of the floor that was broken and tossed it up and down in her hand a few times.

His response was to spit in her face. Big mistake. She took the chuck of rock, that was about the size of her fist, and smashed his teeth in with it.

He tried to bitch about it but before he could get the words out, she smashed him in the mouth again. He started screaming but was not saying any words any more. Tenten smiled at that and put her new rock on the table.

"Now then, you are going to tell me something worthwhile or I am going to start putting more senbon inside your joints." Tenten said and she started to twirl a senbon between her fingers.

He kept his mouth shut while trying to work out the pain in his jaw. Tenten just sighed and jammed the senbon into the joint closest to his palm of his ring finger.

He let out another yell before he shut his mouth again. Tenten was starting to get annoyed. She jammed another senbon into his index finger. She had to admit, it looked pretty painful.

"Your wasting your time you stupid cunt." He yelled before he took the rock to his mouth again. "Ok, well, that looks pretty good on your hand. Might as well start on the other one." She said as she did the same with all five of his fingers on his other hand.

"What else can I do to torture you?" Tenten said out loud. She looked at the table and saw a bit of the rope that was left over. Mulling it over in her head, she cut ten small strips of it off and placed them on the ends of each senbon.

She gave them each a little wiggle just to hurt him a bit more. After getting them all on, she pulled out a lighter and lit the rope on fire. It wasn't instant, but after a few seconds, the heat transferred to the senbon and started to burn.

He was just cringing at the pain but nothing else. Tenten just shrugged and lit all of them on fire. Same as last time, after a few seconds he started to scream this time. Tenten decided to also start kicking the arm rests of the chair to get his hand and the senbon to move differently. They were starting to grind down the cartilage in his hand.

Tenten decided to start trying something else and decided to try and dislocate his shoulder. The guy was built like a rock and she was having difficulties. As soon as the guy started to laugh at her struggles she just lifted her foot above her head and dropped it down on his shoulder, shattering the bone in it.

The Iwa-nin cursed some more before Tenten ripped his shoulder out of socket. She started to poke around the broken bones in his shoulder to see how much damage that actually did. The answer was alot.

She shrugged again seeing how much pain it was causing. Pulling out a few senbon, she started to shove a few into the now empty shoulder socket. His thrashing and screaming caused the still burning senbon to wear down the joints in his fingers.

"Well at this rate, you wouldn't be any use to your village when they let you out." Tenten said a bit quietly. The Iwa-nin was grinding his teeth, the ones he still had, to hold back the pain. He heard what she said, he didn't believe her one bit though.

Tenten shrugged again before sticking more senbon to hold his shoulder closer to his socket. The twitching from his hand was now pulling on these senbon causing ever more discomfort.

"Well I either have to get information from you or just kill you I suppose. With my friends that are working on your friends, I should probably just kill you and get it over with. Ino could probably get her target to talk, Naruto, probably got tired of listening to his subjects screaming and just killed him to be done with it." Tenten said evenly.

The Iwa-nin was a little worried and yet relieved at that. He had no idea what happened to his comrades and assumed they were dead. "What about our commander?" The Iwa-nin said out loud to himself.

"Ibiki probably took care of him personally. No wonder we have permission to just kill you." Tenten said with a shrug as she went back to the table of tools.

"A few genin don't matter too much if they make it back to Iwa. The commander would have more intel anyway. Why are we wasting out time on you anyway. You probably already squealed anyway." Tenten said accusingly.

"Fuck you bitch I ain't no squealer." He yelled out before he received a rock to the mouth once again for his troubles.

Tenten decided that her friends were probably done by now so she just brought her arm weight across the side of his head, knocking him out. "Well, he ain't no squealer Aoba-san. Want me to go ahead and kill him or does he have any real use alive?" Tenten asked without hesitating.

Aoba squinted his eyes a little to see if the girl was hesitating or was scared to kill him. Detecting no such emotion he just waved her off and walked to the door. Tenten kept her new favorite rock with her as she met up with Naruto in the hallway.

"Pass?" She asked. "Yup. Got him to talk too." Naruto bragged. "I had one that decided he ain't no squealer. Got a new rock too." She said showing him the bloody rock.

Naruto managed to chuckle at that before he turned to the door Ino had gone into. Naruto had finished several minutes faster than Tenten. It was still only about twenty five minutes since they arrived though.

They were set to wait for another twenty minutes before Ino finally came out. She looked quite tired and was wearing quite a bit of blood. She wasn't really looking at anything in particular and was leaning against Ibiki for support.

Ibiki sat Ino down on the bench next to Tenten and looked at Anko and Aoba. "So, how did you kid's do?" Ibiki asked.

"Can I have him as an apprentice?" Anko asked a bit too excitedly. "That good?" Ibiki asked taking a look at Naruto. "He got more info that I did in a little over a twenty minutes." Anko said, completely unashamed that an academy student just showed her up.

Ibiki quirked an eyebrow at that and considered putting his support behind his apprenticeship to Anko. He turned his attention to Aoba, signaling him to give his report.

"No hesitation, no remorse, a rather, interesting use of senbon, I would say pass as well." Aoba reported. Ibiki nodded at that. Physical torture was a bit more of a science that many would think. Getting Aoba's acceptance with physical torture was pretty impressive in his book.

"Well then, little Ino-chan here has also passed. Using quite alot of gen-jutsu, she managed to push her target to the brink of a mental breakdown. She managed to keep her emotions relatively in check enough for me to pass her off to the academy to finish off the conditioning." Ibiki explained with a nod.

"To the dango!" Naruto and Anko both shouted as they turned to the exit. Everyone but Tenten sighed and shook their heads. She shouted that they would catch up later as she started to walk Ino to the Uzumaki compound instead.

Naruto and Anko just shrugged and continued on ahead. Ino had been dragging her feet a bit and Tenten just started whispering to her that it was over and they were going to get cleaned up. Ino had nodded a few times and started looking around a bit.

Tenten had been taking the quieter roads to keep out of the public eye a bit. Ino had thanked her several times on the trip before they finally got there. They went straight to the hot spring around the back of the main house.

Tenten helped Ino get undressed and scrubbed the blood off of her hands. Tenten had asked what happened while she was in the room and only got a few scattered replies.

From what Tenten was gathering, she started to run out of chakra and decided to start using her fists instead. Getting blood spat on her and the woman's deranged screaming had pushed Ino to her own mental breakdown. She was not proud of nearly beating the woman to death.

Ibiki had checked the prisoner out and she was still alive. He looked Ino over and Ino didn't lose her spirit yet and Ibiki said she passed. Going over it in her head again was giving her second thoughts though.

"Ino, we will be asked to kill in the future. It is an inevitability. While me and Naruto-kun didn't kill our targets, we both had the thought that we probably should have." Tenten said without a shred of shame in her voice.

Ino paused a bit at that. Her best friends thought they should have killed their targets? While the thought had crossed her mind, she kept running in circles thinking there was a different way.

She didn't think any less of Naruto and Tenten. With that admission to herself, she realized that she was being stupid for forgetting that death was a part of a shinobi's job.

Ino was still slouching on the stool as Tenten cleaned spit out of her hair and off of her face. She was slowly starting to perk up a bit as Tenten managed to get it all off. Tenten could feel her twitching and just assumed she was debating something in her head.

She finally sighed and sat up straight for a moment before standing up. Tenten gave her a firm smack on the back and sent her to the hot spring. She started to get ready to go in and join her.

It was only a few moments later that Naruto came in. "You got back quick. Something happen?" Tenten asked. "Anko-chan had to take the reports to Iruka-sensei so we got some dango for the road. A dip in the hot spring sounded really good too." Naruto said as he shrugged off his clothes and started to rinse himself off.

Well, more scrub himself down as he realized he had been sweating rather profusely earlier. Naruto noticed that Tenten had grabbed two towels when she went to enter the hot spring. "Why did you grab two towels?" He asked.

"Well I think Ino might need one." Tenten said before she quirked her eyebrow to gauge his response. He merely narrowed his eyes a bit. "Why didn't you tell me Ino-chan was in there. I guess I'll just settle for a shower then." Naruto said as he went for a towel to dry off with.

"Just get in there. Ino needs to get over her insecurities and act like a kunoichi. What if she becomes a genin and insists on taking a bath in a river alone. She would be open to ambush. Now is the best time to get over this. Besides, we took the test together so we finish the training together." Tenten said before grabbing the towel out of Naruto's hand and taking it with her to the hot spring.

Naruto just watched her go to the spring and took a moment to steel himself. Ino was probably going to beat him and that was probably going to suck. He just sighed and walked in like he normally would.

It took Ino about two full seconds to open her eyes after she heard someone else step into the water. She knew Tenten was already in so who else would just walk in like that.

He opened her eyes in time to see Naruto look up at her after getting fully into the hot spring. "What the hell are you doing?!" Ino screamed as she pushed herself out of the hot spring and tried to cover herself in vain until Tenten tossed her a towel to cover herself with.

Naruto quirked his head a bit. "Hey Ino-chan, when did you get that scar on your neck?" Naruto asked with a concerned look on his face. Ino just screamed 'pervert' and ran to try and get dressed as fast as she could.

"Did she really have a scar on her neck?" Tenten asked Naruto with a narrowed expression. "Yeah, looks like it would have been a deep kunai cut on her collar bone. Not as noticeable as yours though." Naruto replied.

Tenten rubbed her collar bone from the memories and sighed as she hopped out of the hot spring to talk to Ino.

"Ino what are you freaking out about." Tenten asked as she grabbed her towel she was drying off with out of her hand. "He just walked in on us and started ogling me. That pervert." Ino said before trying to grab the towel back.

"Did you even hear what he said Ino. He could care less about ogling you. The first thing he noticed was a scar that, honestly I never even noticed." Tenten said back firmly.

"He said that he saw, saw, scar?" Ino said, dropping quiet at the end. Her hand went up towards her neck and traced where the scar was.

She looked at Tenten like she was pleading for answers. Tenten just sighed. "Ino, Naruto doesn't have a perverted bone in his body. I broke him of that long ago. We have been living together for how long now? He has never once ogled or tried to touch me inappropriately for the entire time. Now go back in there, and apologize for hurting his feelings." Tenten said with conviction.

Ino just stared at Tenten like she just told her to go streaking down the main street of the market district. Tenten sighed harder and grabbed her hand and dragged her into the hot spring.

Ino started to resist when she saw the back of Naruto's head but Tenten was far stronger than Ino and forced her to sit right in front of him. She covered her chest with her arms and Tenten sat next to her.

She started to look at her next and asked how she got the scar. It had been a blunted kunai that she didn't dodge because she lost focus. Her father freaked out when it happened because he almost forgot it was blunted.

He made record time across the village to the hospital. The only it had scarred was because she had asked the nurse to let it scar. It had been shortly after she had become friends with Naruto and Tenten and decided to take her training more seriously.

A reminder to always focus was what she thought about it now. It was very faint and barely even noticeable anymore. Still, Naruto had managed to see it before he saw her chest that was displayed plain for him to see.

Ino was starting to realize how stupid she was acting when she noticed Tenten was making no such motions to cover herself around Naruto. They were talking about a similar scar on Tenten and Ino could tell Naruto's eyes were focused on either the scar of Tenten's face.

Ino finally sighed in defeat as she let her arms drop to her sides. She saw Naruto turn his head at the sudden movement and instantly put his hand up to cover her chest in his eyes.

She almost covered herself again before she realized that Naruto had already seen everything and wasn't making any attempt to see them again. Respecting her embarrassment was what she thought of the current display of blocking the view with his hand.

"It's fine Naruto-kun. I'm sorry about yelling at you and calling you a pervert. I didn't even realize you were staring at my scar and not my chest. We are going to be shinobi soon and I need to start growing up and stop being so petty about everything." Ino said sadly.

Naruto lowered his hand and nodded. "I'm glad you are taking this at face value Ino-chan. We just got through the hardest part of our training and grew up alot after it. Everything else gets easier from here out. Nothing will stop us now." Naruto said with a smile before he let out a small breath he didn't realize he was holding.

It had hurt when Ino yelled at him and called him a pervert. He took it as her not having faith that he wouldn't ogle her. Naruto had to tell himself that Ino was a beautiful young woman and it was probably a good thing overall that she was that concerned about her private bits.

Maybe it was a girl thing. Naruto was just of the opinion that if he trusted someone enough to bet his life on it, who cares about being naked in front of each other. Naruto didn't think it was an over simplified view at all.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Everyone's two weeks to finish the first step of their emotional conditioning was coming too an end. Ino had talked to Shikamaru and Choji about what it was like for her. They were both a bit nervous but they both knew that Ino had gone through it to ensure that she would be able to protect them and their friends. They wouldn't let them down.

Shikamaru had ended up going with Aoba and Choji went with Ibiki. They had asked Romi to go with them and she agreed. She went with Anko during the test and they all passed, although not as spectacularly as Naruto and Tenten.

They had all spent the day with Naruto in the Uzumaki compound after they got done with Ibiki. Yugao had came and talked with them to help them understand the transition a bit better. She mostly just told them stories from her earlier years as a shinobi.

After a few stories, she had taken Tenten, Ino and Romi aside to talk to them in private. "Girls, I hope you all understand exactly what it means to be a kunoichi. There are missions that kunoichi will take that can be far worse than just killing someone." Yugao started to explain.

"They will probably start with the classes before your fourth year is done, but it is going to be related to this. To put it bluntly, there will be missions where you will be forced to sexually distract, seduce or even sleep with a target. It hasn't happened in a long time, but you could be forced to bear the child of an enemy if it would strengthen the village." Yugao said before gauging their responses.

They were all a bit concerned but they knew they would have to put their lives on the line for their village. Bearing a child of an enemy was better than dying.

"Now listen. These kind of missions are not that common. Most kunoichi missions would be seduction for assassination purposes. Those are also more specialized missions. Unless you specialize in assassination then they will not be too common either." Yugao continued.

"Any questions?" She asked. "Have you had to do any missions like that?" Romi asked after a bit of hesitation.

"Yes, I was a chunin at the time and had to give my body to a noble. He owned land that the village needed access to and I was chosen because I was his 'type.' The land gave us a more direct trade route to Suna that was worth it but it was still difficult to deal with. The worst part, was I was younger than you are now." Yugao explained, a little bit of annoyance in her voice.

"What?" Ino nearly yelled. "I was a chunin at eight years old, I was called for that mission when I was nine. It would be shortly after that I joined anbu to try and hide from the shame. It was Naruto's mother that honestly helped me get through it more than the psychology specialists ever did." Yugao explained, her expression getting a bit lighter at the mention of Kushina.

They all looked at each other before dropping the subject completely. They all knew that if they were asked to sleep with a noble at their current age they would be hard pressed to go through with it. They decided to go ahead and return to the boys instead and think about what they just learned.

All of the girls were quiet when they returned and none of the boys wanted to ask why. They talked about some lighter subjects for the rest of the day before they ended up finishing and heading out. They would end up meeting back for their monthly group gathering before they went back to the academy and catch up with Shino.

His clan had made him separate from his entire hive and watch them perish. They had given back his queen after he recovered from the trauma of complete isolation. It also served to help him understand just how important his hive was and just how much protecting his queen was worth.

It was a lesson that could be easily translated to how important his comrades were as well as the village as a whole. The dual lesson was a ritual for all Aburame's before they became genin.

He had tried to explain the emotions it put him through but came up short. Everyone assumed it was like having your spouse and kids taken away and executed only to have your spouse returned later. Chilling to say the least.

Back in reality, they all fell quiet as Iruka walked into the classroom. "Class, I have to say I am rather disappointed in you all as a whole. So many of you chose to take the easy way out and many of those that took the harder of the two paths failed." Iruka started saying.

"Of the seven of you that failed Ibiki's test, two are already out of the program. The other five will be given the chance to go through hell to earn your right to resume your training. There is no more room for failure for you five. If you do not get a note from Ibiki that allows you to return, do not bother coming back. You will be sent to the hospital, your chakra will be sealed and you will be forced to pay the village back for wasted resources." Iruka said before he turned to see Ibiki come in right on time.

"They are all yours Ibiki-san." Iruka said. "Come on you lot. I don't have all day to deal with you kids again." Ibiki said with a bit of a growl as he turned to walk out the door. Five very scared kids followed shortly after leaving the rest of the class a bit shocked.

Naruto recognized Shu from his fuin-jutsu class and was not that surprised to see he had failed Ibiki's test. He was also not surprised to see Sakura go with Ibiki. He was slightly curious what Ibiki would put them through that was harder than what they already did.

He was stopped from thinking too much as Iruka cleared his throat. "Now that that was taken care of, The rest of you will be going through more conditioning until the end of your fourth year. At that point, you will be given the chance to test out and join the ranks. When the time comes, we will handle that, for now, everyone go to your normal classes and the rest of the day will be normal as well." Iruka said before looking to his paperwork on his desk.

Everyone filed out and made their way to their class before he started to read the reports of everyone's conditioning in detail. He had glossed over it to see who passed and who chose what method. Now he needed to know who had killed in their tests.

He wasn't surprised to read about Shino's test as well as Kiba's. Both went more or less the same. Hinata seemed like she just got the hell beat out of her by her clan. While he didn't think that was enough, he had to accept that is was still approved. He would have to spend more focus on her.

Sasuke was apparently subjected to gen-jutsu and forced to watch his brother kill his clan until he managed to watch it without freaking out. Brutal, but a fair test to make sure he would be conditioned properly and keep his head on the field.

What struck Iruka as odd was the request on Naruto's report. It had an open offer to take Naruto as Anko's apprentice. Ibiki had signed it and all it needed was Naruto's signature and the Hokage's.

The last student he had in his class to get an apprenticeship was Shiho but it was a take it or leave it offer. Not an open invitation.

Iruka thought about asking Naruto what exactly what happened during his test but alot of it was labeled as confidential. Iruka was only a teacher so he doubted he would get approved to read anything confidential.

He put it aside and decided to just leave it alone. He kept going through the reports and saw everyone else had passed without too many having alot of trouble. Iruka was still a bit disappointed that so many had washed out with how much easier the tests were from when he had to take them.

Going through the failures, he saw that most were broken down by the shinobi they were supposed to torture. He could understand how it happens but he had thought he had prepared them enough.

He sighed as he started thinking of the next few months. He needed to start trying to predict who would want to graduate after their fourth year to make sure they were properly ready.

He lost too many friends due to rushed training and he would do everything he could do to make sure these kids didn't have to go through that. He went back to his work and decided to schedule a meeting with Hokage-sama about altering the academy lesson plan. If he was correct, there would be quite a few students that would want to graduate early and he would need to compromise for the lost two years with a bit harder training.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

 **Ok that is a wrap. These last few chapters were all done rather quickly because I had almost everything I wanted to get done already thought through.**

 **I would have rather done all three of them in one chapter but decided in three separate chapters instead.**

 **I am going to be taking a small break so I can plan out the next few chapters. Nothing like the last break but I doubt I will at least be updating again in January.**

 **Till then, I'll see you in the next one.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Ok welcome back everyone. Have to say I have been getting way to many ideas to keep up with. I decided a while back that I would just write one-shots or have secondary stories that are impossible to keep up with.**

 **I would say the last three months I have been trying to write two stories at once and if I were to go back I would have waited far longer before starting the second story. I love both stories but swapping back and forth is difficult.**

 **I instead am probably going to just keep a few one-shots and not post them until they are complete. Between one-shots and possibly a very short story, this is still my main focus.**

 **I would like everyone's opinion if anyone wants to get it. Currently debating two ideas. One is where Jiraiya would take Naruto as his apprentice from the very start. Taking away the bad habits he built during then and making him far stronger. Would be a one-shot and not possible to be a full story. It would still probably be over 30k but only one chapter.**

 **The second, is a romance story consisting of Naruto x Tenten x Temari. Only those three and I am rather happy with how my rough outline as come along on it. This story would have to potential to be a short story. Maybe around 100k tops but I would most likely have most of it done before I start posting anything.**

 **Neither of those stories would be up anytime soon but I am curious which would appeal to more to everyone that reads this story. Alot of good things I hear is that Tenten is a main character and not many people write about her as much.**

 **Super long intro aside, let's just get into the story before I ramble any more. Here is Chapter 17 of Trust By My Side.**

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Iruka stood nervously in front of his Hokage. Hiruzen was currently going over Iruka's new proposal for changing the academy curriculum. Hiruzen was hiding his smirk well after getting through the proposal.

Iruka wanted to speed up several things and try to get all students to start advanced teamwork drills while still in the academy. There were also ideas of survival training outside the walls of the village. Hiruzen was pleased with the work Iruka put into it and he himself would like most of his ideas implemented immediately.

A class wide raid on a 'bandit encampment' that was really disguised chunin was brilliant. The kids would have to be told ahead of time but no mercy would be allowed. Hiruzen was glad Iruka was the one bringing him these ideas. He had thought of trying to push similar ideas to the council but that might make him seem paranoid.

He was still frightful of the coming years. Jiraiya had sent reports of steadily increasing genin graduating within Iwa. It was nothing major overall, but it still caused him a bit of worry. These new genin could come to be chunin level in less than a year but Hiruzen knew Iwa would wait until they had vast numbers advantages.

He shook his head and looked up to Iruka. "Well Iruka-san, I am all for it. I am glad I got you into the academy. You seem to be taking the role as teacher above and beyond expectations." Hiruzen complimented before gathering the new plans into a pile.

"Thank you Hokage-sama. I always worry about my students and I feel many will try to test out early instead of staying for a full six years. I hope to lessen what they would lose by pushing them harder now and giving them a far higher survival chance when they do leave my classroom." Iruka said back.

Hiruzen just nodded before patting the pile of papers. "I will have a meeting in a few days to address these new plans. I believe you could get started by the end of the month if all goes well. I would ask for a recommendation as to a partner for you when supervising these new programs." Hiruzen said as he stood up to get a scroll to seal the plans in.

"I would have to ask the other teachers and maybe a few of the chunin I know who considered teaching. Everyone has been pitching in and offering extra classes and I don't think overworking some would be too wise." Iruka thought out loud.

"It will be fine. After the council meeting I will send word of the results to you. When we have a date to start, I will ask for a suitable aide by then. Until then, keep up the good work. Believe it or not, your work ethic has been spreading and it is doing out future as a village alot of good." Hiruzen complimented before Iruka bowed and walked out the door.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

The council meeting went well. Shikaku had read through the report in record time and had to admit that it was efficient. Shikaku was the jonin commander for the village and had to commend Iruka for his in depth proposal.

"Iruka-san, this is a very good proposal. I am all for pushing it through and starting it by the end of the month. I have heard kids from my son's class talk about how long the academy is. While it is a good thing, kids don't seem to want to stay that long. Pushing harder during the first four years they must take will prevent them from graduating and getting themselves killed early in their career." Shikaku started.

"There is plenty of concern for things normal children would be worried about. You have also managed to work the emotional conditioning into normal lessons. Very well done." Inoichi chimed in.

"Then does everyone agree to start the new curriculum at the start of next month?" Hiruzen asked the council. Everyone nodded in support and Iruka was excited. He had done it. It had taken months of thought but his plan was finally accepted.

Iruka was halted in his internal celebration by Hiruzen clearing his throat. "We will be going over the results of the new training at the end of your current classes fourth year. Should we see a noticeable increase in their development, I will be keeping the new curriculum for the following generation as well." Hiruzen said before calling an end to the meeting.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Tenten woke up and looked to her side. Naruto was already up and she could hear him moving around in the kitchen. Today was her birthday and he was probably trying to make breakfast like he usually did. This time however, her birthday landed on one of their days off so they could do something else instead of spend the day in school.

She shrugged and got up and went to take a shower. Deciding not to peek on what he was preparing, she went straight in and took her time. Knowing him, it would take a while.

A rather long shower later, she came out in her everyday clothes. She could finally smell what Naruto was making and she was rather happy. Waffles, french toast, eggs and bacon. She loved it all and Naruto didn't chose just one.

"Morning Tenten-chan. Happy birthday." Naruto said as he started setting everything out on the table. A breakfast buffet, even better. "Morning Naruto-kun. Thanks for the breakfast. It looks good." She said as she took her seat.

They ate in relative silence. Tenten tried asking what they were going to do today but Naruto was keeping quiet. He said it was a surprise and that it would be fun. Nothing more.

They finished eating and Naruto asked if she wanted to go for a walk. Tenten agreed and they started walking around town. It was a very lovely day out and the fresh air was nice. They made it to the market district and Naruto started peeking through the windows to see if there was anything nice he could get Tenten.

Tenten saw him looking and decided to drag him into a clothes store to try on something new. Naruto saw her looking and was making a mental note of the price tags. They were all cheap clothes and he had to mental thank any deity that would listen that Tenten had cheap tastes when it came to clothes.

A minute later, she dipped into the changing room to try on a more casual shirt than her normal attire. Naruto took the opportunity to make a shadow clone and with a nod it ran out the store.

Tenten came out soon after wearing a new shirt. It was white with small flower designs towards the bottom and red trim. It was styled similar to her normal shirt but with long sleeves and was a bit looser around the bottom.

Naruto smiled at her and said it looked great. Tenten smiled back and decided to get it and wear it out of the store. She didn't really have a more civilian shirt now that she thought about it. The new shirt would get in the way of training too much to wear all the time.

They decided to walk around some more before heading to the dango shop to grab some to go. They both joked they had been around Anko too much because they both developed a taste for it after a while of being near her.

They soon stopped at the park Naruto and Tenten used to always visit when they were younger. Tenten thought it was really thoughtful to stop here for a bit. Naruto definitely was doing all of this on purpose.

They ate their dango quietly and started watching the birds fly by. They finished their dango and Tenten was about to suggest they go ahead and head home before she felt an arm wrap around her shoulder.

She looked to her right and saw a clone of Naruto offering her a scroll. Taking it and turning to the original with a questioning look, he just smiled big before the clone dispelled. Tenten looked down and was about to open the scroll before Naruto stopped her.

"Let's head home first." He suggested and took her free hand and started to lead her home. Tenten was almost frustrated because she knew it had to be a gift and he was making her wait to open it. She sighed and guessed he had a reason.

That reason became obvious when they made it into the compound and saw all of their friends there waiting for them. "Happy birthday Tenten." Was the greeting from everyone. Shikamaru, Ino, Choji, Romi, Shino, Shiho, Inu, and Yugao were all there.

"Thanks everyone, I wasn't expecting everyone to stop by." She said before turning to Naruto who just grinned like mad. They all just smiled and nodded, confirming that Naruto was the one who had the idea.

Ino walked over to her and handed her a scroll. Looking at it in her hand, it was a similar color to her normal shirt. "This one is from me, Shika, Choji, Romi and Shino." Ino said as she unrolled it a bit.

Inside, she saw several seals inside. She could tell what they all did after a moment. One was a standard storage seal. One looked like it would hold liquids. Another had time space modifications to preserve what was placed inside it.

She smiled big knowing they had built it together. "Sorry to say but it is empty at the moment. An all purpose storage seal will still come in handy no matter what." Shino said. "Thanks you guys, I don't know why I hadn't thought of trying to build a scroll like this before." She said as she went and gave everyone a hug. Well, except Shino. A handshake was more comfortable to him.

She tucked the scroll away in the pouch she still had on her and went to the one Naruto had given her. This one being black in color. "That one is from me, Baa-chan and Inu." Naruto said with the biggest grin he could fit on.

Tenten was a little nervous opening this one. She slowly unrolled it and looked at the seal inside. It was a very simple storage seal and she placed her hand over it. She looked at Naruto and he nodded and she applied chakra to unseal it.

A moment later, the small smoke cloud dissipated revealing a sword. She unsheathed at and weighed it in her hands. It was twenty eight inches long. A double edged straight jian sword. The handle was just long enough to hold with two hands yet it was light enough to be wielded one handed with ease.

The end was decorated with a bright red tassel that hung a few inches from the pommel. She gave it a few tests swings before she re-sheathed it. Turning back to the scroll, she read the small note left in it.

'Happy birthday Tenten. The boys that came by said this was a gift for you so I added in a little extra for you. You can unscrew the pommel and there is a steel rod coated in chakra metal. There is enough room to wrap it with a seal tag you ninja are so fond of. That dog masked guy said you could probably make a seal to reinforce the sword even more. Of course I made it so it will be fine without it.' It was signed Old Man Higurashi.

Tenten smiled at that. She knew she would have to stop by to thank him for that. It really was a kind gesture. Looking back up she saw Shiho step forward with a scroll in hand.

"Here Tenten-san. I found a scroll in the library on a martial art that should fit well with your sword. Naruto-kun told me about it and I did some research and made a copy of what I found." She said before handing over the scroll.

She opened it and read a little of it. The style was called taijiquan. Looking at some of the basic forms she saw a few similarities between it and her current style. The basics of it was more focused on inner strength as well as fluidity of motion.

Even if she didn't solely rely on it, it would still be a good foundation. She skimmed a little more and saw where it talked about the sword. The forms it was describing would naturally give her more balance and flexibility while strengthening her core.

"Thank you all so much. This is all so amazing." Tenten said grabbing Shiho in a hug. "It's really nothing Tenten." Inu said with, what everyone assumed was a smile.

"Say Tenten-chan. Want to give your new sword a test run?" Naruto asked with a grin. "Sure, let me change though." She said as they both ran inside. Naruto needed to grab his sword, and Tenten needed to swap back to her normal top.

They both made it back out to the training area in record time and everyone was already waiting for them. Inu volunteered to be the referee for their match and signaled them to start before taking a few steps back.

They charged toward each other and started with gusto. Tenten trying to use the same types of moves she had just read about and Naruto using his slightly modified style his mother created. Naruto for his part wasn't quite flexible for some of the moves, but he was still able to do most of it.

The years of training with it was showing and he was giving Tenten a run for her money. Tenten on the other hand, being the first time using the sword was getting used to it really fast. Yugao was mentally freaking out at her rapid acclimation to the weapon.

She was well versed with swords and had trained with many people over the years. Never had she seen someone grasp a new sword and get used to it as fast as Tenten was now.

Naruto held the advantage early, but after about three minutes Tenten had her new weapon figured out. She was top of the ken-jutsu class for a reason after all. Naruto managed to last another two minutes before Tenten managed to disarm him and have Inu call the fight in her favor.

"It looks like you have used that sword for months already. How did you get used to it so fast?" Inu asked. "Not sure. I think it is just with how much time I spent observing my kunai and shuriken, I just managed to adapt to the weight and size difference pretty quick. It is also a very well built sword so that helps a ton." Tenten tried explaining.

Yugao chose that moment to chime in. "You will no doubt go far with any sword you have in your hands. That is truly a blessing all swordsmen dream of." She said with a smile. Tenten smiled back before observing the sword.

It was still pristine with no damage at all. Good, she had been a bit careful but she was glad she managed to keep in undamaged the entire fight.

"What the hell have they been teaching you in ken-jutsu class?" A shocked Ino asked. She was shocked because they were moving faster than they normally did in class. Naruto is in her tai-jutsu class but his tai-jutsu style is not nearly as flashy as his ken-jutsu.

"Not a whole lot. A solid foundation?" Naruto asked out loud. Yugao sighed as she saw this coming from her time teaching the earlier classes. "While you have improved mostly on your own, you don't need to say it that way." She said.

"Sorry Baa-chan. Our sensei is a good teacher, just not familiar with out styles in the slightest so we mostly just go over sword discipline and stances. Well, I do, Tenten-chan has been picking up on sensei's style lately." Naruto said sheepishly.

"You are learning Masaki-san's style as well? That's three very different ken-jutsu styles. You do realize that right?" Inu asked. Yugao just glared at him. She knew who he was and learning several different styles was exactly his style.

"Yup. If my weapon's were to ever break, I could pick up a wakizashi far easier than an extra butterfly sword." Tenten explained getting nods from everyone.

"I wasn't saying it is a bad thing. It is more impressive that you are able to learn three styles at once and not fall behind." Inu explained himself. Everyone nodded as well causing Tenten to blush a bit at all the attention.

She couldn't really explain it, but she was just comfortable with all the weapons she picked up. Going to the Higurashi shop often in her free time was a major reason her interest in weapons kept going up.

Tenten had gotten several comments from Iruka-sensei and Masaki-sensei about that ability. It filled her with a sense of pride and so she continued to strive.

Internal conversations aside, the group all sat around and had a light picnic Naruto had prepared ahead of time. Everyone had fun and eventually headed their separate ways. Naruto and Tenten spent the rest of the day practicing with the new sword.

Tenten would go over the forms for a while before having a quick spar with Naruto and going through the forms again. Tenten had to admit the weapon was a good fit for her. Higurashi probably did his best to make sure of that.

She could tell at a glance the sword was custom made to fit her. That thought made her realize just how much she visited the shop over the years. Shaking that thought, she got back to training with vigor. She needed a foundation set in stone by the time they went back to class. Granted they only had one day, Tenten could still beat Naruto in a spar with the new weapon so she was at least decent with it already.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

It was getting close to the end of everyone's fourth year in the academy. The last few weeks were full of annoying technicalities in Naruto's opinion. The first of the technicalities was the start of a long string of written tests.

Every class had an exam that would take up most of the time in the class to finish. They all dealt with the specifics of each class. The tai-jutsu and ken-jutsu were both hands on all out spars under the careful gaze of their teachers.

Nin-jutsu class had a written exam about some of the more basic theory behind chakra flow as well as reaction questions. What would you do if an opponent shot a three foot wide fireball at you from thirty feet away with three seconds before impact kind of questions.

Of course everyone's reply would be different but it was a pass of fail question. Either you would be unable to survive based on past records of your abilities, or you would pass if your teacher thought you could survive with the actions you took.

Fuin-jutsu exams, everyone was given three seals made by their teacher. One was a simple and functional tag. They needed to write their observations of what it did and a practical application of said seal.

The second was an incomplete seal and an overly simplified description of what it was supposed to do. They needed to complete it by matching their sensei's style of writing as well as tie all of the symbols together with their chakra without overloading what was there before. With different ink and mediums, it was a good test.

The final seal was an electrocution trap that they had to disarm and rebuild to be triggered by their own chakra. This involved understanding how the seal worked thoroughly, properly applying enough chakra to break the intended use, and then put it back together by washing the previous chakra away and replacing it with their own.

Of course these seals were all quite low leveled but they were still field practical. Worst case scenario, someone got the hell shocked out of them and would have to take a trip to the hospital. They were all given three hours for those three seals as well as an extra hour to make a seal of their own.

The better the seal made, the better the grade. They were given permission to make anything as long as it was done well. A basic sealing scroll build perfectly would yield the same grade as a shoddy but complex as hell array.

With Iruka's class, they were mostly given exams on history, basic protocol, as well as geography and theoretical engagements to problem solve through.

Once all the exams were done, they were all sent to the hospital to get a thorough physical as well as a psyche exam. Dr. Alda went through the physical part and Inoichi went through the psyche exam.

Of course everyone had a solid bill of health and a few snide comments courtesy of Dr. Alda. Some of those kids were seriously stupid with how their muscles were either uneven or because of poor diet. He did his job regardless and wrote everything in detail but he had no say overall.

Everyone made it past Inoichi far faster. He was able push everyone through quite quickly because alot of what he needed to know was documented ahead of time. He just needed to ask a few generic questions and read their body language to give them the go ahead to continue if they wanted to.

All of these exams were far more extensive than the previous years because this was the year that everyone who scored high enough would be given the option to graduate early or stay behind two more years.

Everyone was told to put together a three man cell that complimented each other by the day before graduation. If all three members were capable, they could graduate. Everyone had gotten together to talk about it and the only person keen on graduating early was Romi.

Everyone know she was ready, but still was concerned about her passing up an extra two years of advanced study. Her reasoning was she could get even more training outside the academy from different people as well as gain experience on the field.

Nobody argued about it. They all had their opinions and they would pass on anything they learned in the academy as a way to show continued support in her decision. Her only hesitation was that she would have to be on a team outside their friend group as she was the only one going for early graduation.

This brought them to their current position, in the class with Iruka as he was telling them about what was happening the day before graduation.

"Everyone listen up. Today is the day where everyone who passed with sufficient grades will be able to graduate and move to the rank of genin." Iruka said before he went through the list of people who had high enough grades to graduate. Everyone including, Sasuke, Sakura, Kiba, Hinata, and several of the civilian kids made it with high enough marks as well as Naruto and the group were called forward.

"Now, you all have high enough grades to graduate. Being at the end of your fourth year, if you have grouped with two other students here, you three will be evaluated by a group of ranking shinobi who are seeking to help the new graduates and possibly find an apprentice. I hope everyone has a team in mind and that all of your team has a passing grade because we will be going before them for a demonstration soon." Iruka said before turning back to the kids in front of him specifically.

"Now then, out of you guys, who want's to graduate early and has a team that will be able to pass with you?" Iruka asked looking at Naruto and Tenten specifically. They both gave a small shake of their head and Iruka turned to everyone else.

Sasuke, Sakura and Romi stepped forward together and Kiba, Hinata and a civilian boy who had done well in survival training stepped forward as well. There were a few more kids who had the grade to pass that looked back at people who didn't have the grades.

'Two teams huh. Sasuke, Sakura and Romi, they have nin-jutsu, gen-jutsu and fuin-jutsu rounded out well. They are all also accomplished in their tai-jutsu and ken-jutsu. They are built for a strike force with the capability to preform assassination as well as cover their escape easily. I would prefer a team like that to be chunin before they had that skill set but it is passable.' Iruka thought before turning to the other team that stepped forward.

'Now, this team is far more specialized but has the potential to go down that line far. Trackers, heavy tai-jutsu with a fair support in case things get messy. They could use some more gen-jutsu in their team but Hinata has the potential to learn it well. They should do well as well.' Iruka thought, finishing up his mental evaluation.

"Ok, everyone else, regardless of if you want to graduate, everyone will be participating in the little demo today. I told everyone to plan on a team for this reason and another. The last two years in the academy will have team building training during those years. The teams you chose will stay together through those two years from now on." Iruka said looking around.

Everyone nodded and that told him that everyone had indeed put together a team. He would be observing then during the demo and he hoped no one had put together teams for the wrong reasons. Sakura being on Sasuke's team was pushing it really far but he decided to let them pass because their skills were suited to a team together.

"Everyone let's not keep our guests waiting any longer. Head out to the training grounds and stand with your teams. Regardless of if you are graduating or not, this is still for a grade and this is probably one of the most important grades you will get." Iruka said before turning to the door, leading the way.

Everyone followed Iruka out and was greeted with the sight of nearly a dozen shinobi ranked chunin and up. Naruto looked back and forth between them and saw a few familiar faces.

Anko, Hayate, Aoba, Shikaku and the Hokage were among the ones he knew. They all were sitting around the sparring arena watching them approach. Naruto heard a loud sigh beside him as Shikamaru saw his dad there. With his dad here, he would have to try harder.

Everyone stood around the area behind Iruka in their teams. Naruto stood next to Tenten with Shikamaru on her left and Naruto on her right. Next to them, Ino stood by Choji with Shino on her other side.

Everyone had talked about it the last time they got together. They couldn't play favorites with they decided their teams so they all discussed it together. Everyone agreed Naruto and Tenten would work better together better than anyone else.

Naruto being primarily a close to mid ranged fighter and Tenten sticking to mid to long range fighting. Shikamaru was chosen to join them being the extra strategy they needed as well as a solid mid ranged support. He would be able to cover both of them while being in range to be supported by both of his teammates.

Ino, Choji and Shino were a bit more complicated. Their team would be alot harder to justify. Ino was ahead of the class in gen-jutsu, Choji was ahead in tai-jutsu and Shino did well in fuin-jutsu classes. They would be a rather bland team in general, but they would fit as a relief team quite well.

Being able to adjust to many different scenarios would be their strength. There were really just no other classmates that stood out to them too much. Hinata would have been good to team up with but she was focusing as more of a scout. Romi decided to go with Sasuke and Sakura because they were the most talented that wanted to graduate.

They were all worried for her but let her go anyway. She would be able to give them a view of what it was like being out on missions. Naruto was snapped out of his thoughts as Iruka finished addressing everyone present.

They would each have a few minutes to explain their team and what they were focused on as well as demonstrate what they could do in a spar against one of the viewers. They would decide who peaked their interest and spar with them themselves.

Sasuke, Sakura and Romi were first up. They gave a quick run down that they would be best suited for a strike team with their nin-jutsu, gen-jutsu as well as fuin-jutsu. They were all quick and had the potential to grow into the role more as they gained experience.

The onlookers gauged their attitude and body language. Romi and Sasuke were radiating confidence yet Sakura seemed to be shy in the spotlight. A veteran chunin stepped forward showing interest in them. He was a member of a strike team himself and he wanted to see what the kids could do.

He stepped into the sparring circle and took his position. The three looked at each other and nodded. The fight was quick but everyone was pleased with the results. Sakura had hidden Romi behind a gen-jutsu while Sasuke used his ken-jutsu to distract their opponent.

He was still a chunin and saw through the illusion and managed to stop Romi before she could stick a tag on his back. Everyone still cheered when Iruka called the match. The hokage was nodding as well as Shikaku beside him.

Hinata, Kiba and their teammate used their tracking skills to follow and surround their target as he covered himself in a gen-jutsu more cheers when they caught him within a minute. The rest of the teams went through before it got to Naruto.

"These are mine." Anko said with a devilish grin. "Troublesome." Shikamaru said as he settled into his stance. "Nah we got this Shika. We have the perfect plan." Naruto said confidently. They went through the basics of their composition and what they would excel at.

Mostly as a balanced force and fuin-jutsu specialists. Iruka called the start of the match and all three of them slipped out of their stances at the same time. "Anko, we will give you a box dango if you let us skip the fighting." Naruto offered as Tenten pulled out a scroll.

Anko dipped out of her stance and skipped over to them, snatching the scroll from Tenten. She unrolled it and unsealed a box of dango. She eyed it for a moment before forfeiting and walking back to where she was sitting before.

Everyone just started at her like she should have cared about the fight. Hiruzen and Shikaku were the only ones that actually respected the decision to bribe their way out of the match. Fighting Anko was not exactly a wise choice. They both knew that they knew Anko so their planning skills were top notch in their books.

Everyone else, barring Ino, Choji, Shino and Romi were not as pleased. "That's bullshit. How come they get to buy their way out of a fight?" Sasuke yelled at Iruka. "Because they were smart enough to plan that far ahead. I'm giving them a damn good score for managing to find a way out of that bloodbath as well." Iruka replied getting a nod from the Hokage.

Sasuke kept fuming but kept his mouth shut. He would need at least one of the chunin to take an interest in him to get more training out of the academy.

Back with Iruka, he was just wrapping up the demonstration and everyone watching was starting to head out. Hiruzen and Shikaku talked to him for a moment before they both left as well. Iruka turned back to the class and got their attention.

"Sasuke, Sakura, Romi, Hinata, Kiba and Hiro. Your demonstrations went over well and you have all scored well enough that your teams have been accepted as genin of the village. Tomorrow, you will officially have graduated and get your headbands. We will discuss what your first tasks as genin will be during that time. Everyone else, class is dismissed and there will be no class tomorrow for those that did not graduate at this time." Iruka announced.

Everyone started to file out and go their separate ways. Naruto, Tenten, Ino, Shikamaru, Choji and Shino all decided to go to the Akimichi cafe for a big lunch and discuss their upcoming years.

"Hey Shino, what did your dad say when you showed him the seals you made for the exams? The tiny shock ones." Naruto asked as they were seated and finished their orders.

"Father approved of them and held a small meeting to discuss them further. A field test is scheduled to be held this weekend to demonstrate their use in the field. I believe that the clan will consider producing them in a larger scale after." Shino said.

"Awesome. I told you fuin-jutsu would be perfect. Instead of waiting on your bugs to slowly drain someone, just shock the hell out of them and drain them when they are numb. It was brilliant." Naruto said enthusiastically.

"What about you Naruto-san. What did you make for the exam?" Shino asked. He had been coming out of his shell and actually talking a bit over the years. He was still pretty quiet however.

"I might have made a seal you can wrap around a kunai that would cover it in wind chakra making it nearly impossible to hear as well as adding to the sharpness of it. Best part is you don't even need a wind affinity to use it." Naruto said with pride.

Tenten was grinned beside him as she remembered getting to test those seals out. They punched holes through boulders and she had alot of fun with them.

"Well I made a flash tag that lasted for about twenty seconds, enough for someone of my clan to use the extra shadows to reach someone and finish them. What about you Tenten?" Shikamaru asked.

"Rapidly automatic unsealing carpet bomb you can stick to a shuriken and toss over an enemy. It drops dozens on explosive tags or smoke bombs over a wide area. Alot more practical than just throwing a few dozen explosive kunai." She said with a smirk. She had even more fun testing those ones.

Naruto flinched remember his clone's memories of the first few runs of the tag. They were alot harder to dodge because they were released in random timings and were all thrown out of the seal with speed. So much property damage. He thanked every deity he knew that he had learned basic earth style nin-jutsu to repair the yard already.

"You know, you should show Hokage-sama some of those tags. I heard my dad say that Shika's dad got some kind of award for the seal he made when he was in the academy. I think it was a grant to preform further research. He must not have taken it because he didn't do much after he graduated right Shika?" Choji added in.

"Yeah, dad said he made a small scale silencing seal so he could sleep peacefully in class. When the teacher finally found out he was snoring in class and no one could hear him, she took him to Hokage-sama. He was impressed and offered dad a grant to become a researcher but he declined." Shikamaru elaborated.

"I wonder if Jiji would pay us for the seals we made. I had never heard of the seals we made. Maybe we could get some actual spending money off them." Naruto said with a gleam in his eye. Tenten's head snapped up at the mention of spending money.

They were by no means poor, but what little money they got was put into new gear for training and maintaining the houses they had. The guest house having been finished a long time ago.

"We are going to talk to him later today." Tenten said in a voice that left no room for argument. "Sure. Uhh, we could probably do some shopping too if we actually do get paid. That is always fun." Naruto said with a dry chuckle trying to cure his new fear of Tenten. So many sharp things would be purchased if they got enough money. He would also be the test dummy for said sharp objects.

The rest of the meal went pretty casually. Everyone was looking forward to taking their more theory based classes in the coming two years. Naruto had said he might bring some of the slightly more advanced scrolls from his mothers library that weren't really family secrets and get help from their teacher on replicating them.

Everyone started to sweat a little bit at that. They had heard from Shikamaru about some of the things Naruto's mother created and they feared for the stability of the academy's structure at that. Her own seals were built for more mass destruction than precision. 'If it didn't cost chakra on the field, why not go big?' Was one of the phrases she had written in on a rather nasty seal she had made.

They were all thankful that Naruto wasn't diving really deep into making explosive seals yet. Tenten was but her seals were, usually, more precision based. Latest seal withstanding that is.

They all finished their meal and went their separate ways. Naruto and Tenten making their way to the Hokage tower before going home. They dragged Shikamaru with them saying that he was a member of the team and his seal was pretty awesome too. He just sighed and fully realized he was probably going to be dragged alot by his teammates in the future.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

 **Well that is a good enough place to stop for now. Fourth year finished, Romi graduating with Sasuke and Sakura while every one else stays for two more years.**

 **These last two years will go by alot faster than the previous ones. It is more of a 'Gather alot of knowledge that could be helpful' kind of lessons instead of 'This is what you need to become a shinobi' kind of lessons.**

 **Progress while in the class would be slower, but long term could be invaluable. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and hope to see everyone in the next one.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Welcome back everyone. Keep telling myself I am going to catch up my other stories then get demotivated with all the writers block they cause. Tack on some irl stuff and updates get slow.**

 **Coming back to this story, I have what I want to do with this story already in my head so writers block doesn't last long for this. Going to have fun with this chapter because alot of it is going to happen fast.**

 **Bit of a change up from the normal pacing of my chapters but way overdue. Let's just get into Chapter 18 of Trust By My Side.**

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Tenten was practically bouncing in her seat as they sat and waited to be let in to see the Hokage. Their tags were all really well made and rather different from standard gear. They were more specialized from what their teacher said but they could be invaluable in specific missions.

Shikamaru's tags would most likely be shared with his clan as it would help them more than other shinobi. Tenten's tag could be used as either a large scale distraction or wide ranged devastation. Naruto's would hold the potential to give a huge advantage to any shinobi by giving their kunai wind chakra. Wind chakra was quite rare and was hard to counter in close range combat.

After a short wait, the hokage's secretary called them to his office. "Hello kids, what can I do for you three this evening." Hiruzen asked with a smile.

"Hey Jiji. We got through early graduation day and Choji said you offered Shikamaru's dad a grant to become a researcher because of the seal he made while he was in the academy. We were wondering if you would be interested in the seals we made. Teacher said they were really good." Naruto said getting an odd look from Shikamaru. He thought it was crazy that he called the hokage Jiji.

"Hmm, well it has been a good number of years since we really had anyone come from the academy focusing on fuin-jutsu. Sadly no one really actually specializes on it. I think my own student is the last fuin-jutsu master to come from the village. Anyway, what seals did you make? I saw your grades and heard you would had the top marks in fuin-jutsu." Hiruzen asked looking between the kids.

Naruto was grinning ear to ear, obviously excited to reveal what he made. Tenten was also rather excited about her tag. She had a bit more of a violent gleam in her eye however. Shikamaru was just staring at Naruto like he was crazy.

Naruto stopped grinning after a moment and pulled out a kunai and a tag. He wrapped the tag around the handle of the kunai and did a small pulse of chakra into it. The kunai instantly was coated in wind chakra and Naruto pulled out another kunai and cut it in half.

"Well that is definitely impressive. How long did that take to make?" Hiruzen asked. "Well making the first one took almost a month. After I managed to completely work it out, I could probably make one in just a few minutes." Naruto explained.

Hiruzen nodded and motioned for Naruto to show him the tag. Hiruzen examined it closely and tried to work it out. He wasn't called 'The Professor' for nothing after all. Being as close to Jiraiya as he was, he still discussed fuin-jutsu from time to time whenever Jiraiya wanted some advice on theory building a new seal.

"It is definitely well made Naruto-kun. I am quite rusty on fuin-jutsu myself so I might ask Jiraiya-kun when he comes back in a few weeks. If you can mass produce these though, I am sure that the village armory would be quite interested in them. If nothing else, I am sure that you could sell them to blacksmiths in town. I would still clear it with me before you do that however. I would prefer it if you didn't put tags that aren't perfected into the market." Hiruzen said in a slightly serious tone.

It was common sense overall but it still needed to be said. "I actually didn't even think about talking to Higurashi-san about the seals. I guess he does sell like explosive tags and storage seals after all." Naruto thought out loud.

"What did you make Tenten-chan?" Hiruzen asked. Tenten pulled out a tag and attached into the center of a shuriken and handed it to Hiruzen. "It is a rapid automatic unsealing carpet bomb that fits into the center of a shuriken. You can throw it and it unseals anywhere from ten to twenty explosive notes, pellets, smoke bombs, poison gas bombs, or just a ton of senbon if I tweaked it a bit." Tenten explained proudly.

"Very interesting. Can't say I have ever seen anyone use a tag like that with a shuriken. It would definitely be more accurate that way. You said ten to twenty explosive notes? Is that the max you could fit down to a tag this small? Did you ever consider using a fuma shuriken?" Hiruzen asked as he examined the seal.

Tenten's eyes widened a bit at the prospect and Naruto's eyes started to tear up a bit. His optimistic attitude was trying to tell him that he would get alot of earth manipulation training soon but he just couldn't help but tear up at the incoming property damage.

Shikamaru was trying to guess how much more explosives you could add to a tag based off the size difference. His quick guess was terrifying to say the least. He had even realized that Tenten could throw at least two of them at the same time. With how much Naruto was sweating, so had he.

Hiruzen could see Naruto start to shake and recalled a few noise complaints he had gotten from the Uzumaki compound a few weeks back. He also realized that the compound was relatively soundproofed and started to sweat a bit himself.

"Anyway, what did you make Shikamaru-san?" Hiruzen asked. "Twenty second flash tag. It would mostly be useful to my clan and wouldn't have much extra use outside of us." Shikamaru said handing over his tag. Hiruzen nodded and looked it over. He knew it would be helpful to the Nara clan and guessed it wouldn't be enough to fully blind someone. Use for the Nara clan would be more of a slow burn application.

"How bright is it?" Hiruzen asked anyway. "Bright enough to cast shadows in broad daylight without any other shadows available." Shikamaru replied. Hiruzen nodded again. That would be valuable to the clan indeed. "Since you didn't graduate, I assume you did not want to take my offer?" Hiruzen asked.

"Offer, Hokage-sama?" Shikamaru asked. Hiruzen muttered, 'lazy bastard' under his breath. "I had asked your father to offer you a chance to join an office department inside the village a few weeks ago. I had assumed he would talk to you about it and encourage you to graduate early." Hiruzen explained.

"He never brought it up no. What department was the offer for?" Shikamaru asked, mostly curious. "Anything you were willing to train into. Cryptanalysis squad expressed interest in you for the last four years. Communications had an open invitation to anyone with over 180 IQ for years. Even the mission management department asked for you when they saw your exam scores after a while." Hiruzen explained.

"That is quite a few offers. Are they fully optional?" Shikamaru asked. Hiruzen just chuckled. "They are completely optional. After you graduate, if the offers are still there, you will be able to move to there instead of being a soldier. You may want to consider your team in that regard." Hiruzen said motioning to Naruto and Tenten.

Shikamaru turned to look at them and they were both grinning. "Ah hell." He muttered before Naruto spoke up. "Shikamaru, you got comfy jobs lined up. You should totally take one. I bet Shiho-chan would be excited to see you join cryptanalysis core."

"You both know that I am not just going to take them. Would defeat the purpose of half of the training I did to this point." Shikamaru explained. "Regardless, the offers will be there indefinitely. Stop by a few weeks before you graduate and I will run through all offers you have again. Until then, I need to get back to work. I will have Jiraiya-kun stop by and talk to you when he comes back eventually. He is in charge of anything fuin-jutsu related in the village." Hiruzen said before waving them toward the door.

They all bowed and headed out with a bit to think about. Naruto was rather looking forward to seeing Jiraiya again. He hadn't really seen him at all since he had gotten further into fuin-jutsu. Tenten was a bit disappointed in not getting any money right then. Shikamaru was considering all the offers he had for office departments in the village. It might be less work but being in an office, but he would be leaving his friends behind.

In the end, he decided to not worry about it yet. He had another two years he could do in the academy. wouldn't do anything but distract him.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

The kids had finally gotten back into the academy and were falling into their routine. Their new classes were all focused on building up an advanced understanding of each discipline. Everyone had the grades to continue on with their classes and maintained their spots at the top of the class. Naruto taking over Sasuke's former spot at the top of nin-jutsu.

Iruka was still offering advanced ranged weapon training as well. He had talked to the hokage a while back and got the go ahead to teach anything he thought was realistic. He had gotten everyone focusing on throwing every weapon they had at many different angles while dodging rocks. The results were everyone having far wider vision range and reflexes. All skills that would improve survivability by a large margin.

The few complaints he got from the civilian kids that came to his class and got several nasty bruises were quickly shut down by the hokage when he showed the improvement in their skills. A little pain now for much higher chance to survive on missions was a great selling pitch.

The other classes had been going just as well overall. The nin-jutsu class had all gotten pretty close to being adept in their primary affinity as well as being fairly skilled with a secondary. Everyone had mastered water walking by their third year and most kids had stopped there. Naruto and friends had kept at it while trying stuff like balancing leafs along their arms or holding a senbon above their fingers.

Their fuin-jutsu class had gone very casual after their fourth year. Fuin-jutsu was mostly research and memorizing the more common seals needed on the field as well as how to use them. Everything from how to hide explosive tags and set them to go off as a proximity mine to how to disarm enemy seals or reverse engineer them.

Everyone was already quite skilled in all of that so they mostly sat around and would go through building new seals. Their teacher had quite a curiosity with this class in particular. It was her second class she had to teach and her last class was quite boring.

Those kids had only wanted to do the minimum to get through the class and take a safer route as a genin. Fuin-jutsu users tended to be more reserve and not front line ninja. These kids, they all had the will to be front line soldiers as well as had an interest to create new and innovative seals.

This went well with their teacher as it gave her an excuse to sit around and do almost strictly theory crafting new seals with the class. They had managed to create several situational explosive tags. From a delayed fire starter that would cause a wide area to burn out of control after a set time to a contained flooding seal.

They hadn't really made anything too impressive but a few of their seals had been sent out to various divisions for testing. There were a few murmurs around the village about the entire class being one of the most talented seen in years.

Of course no one ever heard those rumors while they were in the academy. Mostly because they were spread around by the scouts from each department that kept track of academy scores further into each department.

Everyone had different focuses for what they wanted. Naruto had wanted to focus on elemental manipulation to make different element seals as well as hybrid seals. Having one seal that would throw out a river and then pump a million volts of electricity through it had many uses on the field.

Tenten had been focusing more on seals for weapons as well as learning a bit about medical uses for fuin-jutsu. She had brought up gravity seals as well as resistance seals for enhancing physical development. Their teacher had put them on everyone that wanted them, which was everyone. She had also been working with Yugao and their teacher on a stasis seal that could serve as a highly efficient splint, completely immobilizing a limb without needing a complicated medical jutsu.

Shikamaru had mostly been working on seals for ease of life use. Storage tattoos were the first thing he had learned. Tenten had been excited about those and was the first one he wrote the finished seals on. She was happy to have a storage seal on her palms so she could store he butterfly swords in them. She was pushing him to make small enough ones to put in between her fingers for senbon but that was rather technical to preform.

Shino had been working on small seals to combine with his insects. The shock tags had a demo shortly after the early graduation day and had been well received by the Aburame clan. His next project was poison gas tags that he could fit up a person's nose. He also had the goal of making a seal that could burn a storage seal onto a person that he could connect with a storage seal of his own and unseal larger explosive notes or worse.

Without Romi in the class, it seemed just too small. There was only four of them which, just as Tenten said years earlier, made it easier to get help from Teacher. The lack of a larger class made it dull from time to time. Except for today of course.

"How's it going class. Get your worship out of your system now. Don't hold back now kids." Came the boisterous voice of Jiraiya in the door. "Jiraiya-sama, as nice as it is to see you after so long, can you not shout in the hallway. Disrupting my class is one thing, but every other class as well is not." Teacher said.

Jiraiya gave her a look and nodded before stepping in and closing the door. "Sensei tells me you kids have built some interesting seals and he wanted me to decide if they are good enough for the armory. What did you kids make. Wait, he said there were three of you. Who is the odd man out?" Jiraiya asked.

"That would be Shino I guess. Me, Tenten and Shikamaru had asked Jiji about our seals." Naruto said back. "Is that so. Well Shino, are you good enough to have your work appraised by The Great Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku?" Jiraiya asked while bouncing on one foot in his famous pose.

"The seals I have made are built for the Aburame clan. I am unsure of how much they would interest you but I will not play down their effectiveness." Shino said. "Is that right?" Jiraiya asked as he picked his hand up and looked at the tip of his finger. Sitting there, was one of Shino's bugs carrying one of his shock tags.

Jiraiya took a closer look at the seal and pointed it at and muttered to himself for a few seconds. "That is quite an interesting seal you made there kid. Small enough to have your bugs carry unnoticed and yet can hold enough chakra to nearly incapacitate a grown man. I get the adhesive seal on the back so your bugs don't have to suicide bomb people essentially, but why not overlap a draining seal into the adhesive seal and wrap it into the shock seal? You could have the tag overload from the enemies chakra as well as making it impossible to pull off. If you made it discharge early if it was slashed, it would be impossible to get rid of once planted as well as increasing damage substantially." Jiraiya commented in a professional tone.

Shino sat silently and thought on Jiraiya's advice. He nodded and pulled out a small book and started writing into it. "Alright, who is next." Jiraiya said boisterously. Shikamaru cringed, Tenten sighed and Naruto threw a kunai at Jiraiya when he finished. Jiraiya caught the kunai without looking at it and pulled in front of himself.

Gazing at the seal wrapped around it, Jiraiya let out a short whistle. "Damn gaki, that is rather interesting. I don't have a wind affinity and can't say I have ever thought about using fuin-jutsu to manipulate it. You should move your chakra input to the same side as the adhesive seal so a person can channel chakra into the kunai naturally so it will make it more fluid and natural. You should also put something to shred the seal if it is thrown so no one could reverse engineer it. Put that in, and I'll write up something that would let you sell them in shops. After a thousand or so for the armory of course." Jiraiya said with a chuckle.

Naruto was already writing up a new seal causing Jiraiya to laugh even harder. "What about you girly. What do you got?" Jiraiya asked. Tenten sighed again and handed him her seal. Jiraiya looked it over and took a step back from Tenten.

"What the hell girly, why are you the one to make mass destruction seals. Isn't mass destruction still popular with the boys. What has happened to the children of this generation?" Jiraiya asked himself as he wept silently.

Their teacher was laughing hysterically at this point. "What is the matter Jiraiya-sama, can't handle a girl making a bigger bang with her seals than you?" She called out.

"Not that, just why aren't you boys making explosive tags or something?" Jiraiya asked, pointing out all of the boys there. Naruto and Shikamaru just shrugged and Shino did nothing. Jiraiya fell to his knees and sobbed silently for another moment before hopping up like nothing happened.

"Anyway, this is quite a good seal girly. If it is calibrated properly, it would be quite useful on the field. Make a few with different spreads and make a way for them to be easily identified from a holster and you have an adaptable seal for any situation. One for dropping a straight line of smoke, one for a very wide range of fire, and of course, a slightly narrower seal for explosive tags. You could make them deploy in different patterns, like say a cone or a circular pattern. If you can make a variety like that, I will put my approval on them." Jiraiya said back in his professional tone.

Tenten was thrown off by his sudden change to professional but nodded and wrote down a few notes. Jiraiya turned to Shikamaru. "Nara huh, flash tag?" Jiraiya guessed. Shikamaru just nodded and handed him his seal.

"You know they make thousands of flash tags right?" Jiraiya said as he examined it. "That being said, this isn't bad at all. In classic Nara fashion, you manage to cut out anything that could be seen as a waste of time. If you are as good at everything else as you are at flash tags then we may have more to talk about." Jiraiya said as he pulled out his sealing supplies.

"I hope you don't mind Teacher-chan, but I am hijacking your class for a bit." Jiraiya said as he sat across from Shikamaru. "Go for it, but your taking me out drinking tonight as payment." Teacher said with a smirk. Jiraiya nodded with a perverted grin and turned back to Shikamaru.

"Ok Nara-san, let's see what else you can do. I am going to show you an incomplete seal. I want to know what is missing as well as what should be added." Jiraiya said before he handed him the tag.

Shikamaru looked at the seal, then to Naruto and Tenten, then to Teacher, then back to the seal. No one seemed to be saying anything so he just went with it.

"It looks like the start of a very generic storage seal. I am guessing it would be tied into a kunai pouch based off the adhesive seal that covers the entire back as well as the seal is only using about the width of a holster in the front. The rest would be able to be folded into the sides of the pouch. The size of the storage isn't really fit well for kunai or shuriken. If you modified it so that it would make the inside of the seal wider instead of being as tall, you could probably fit a few more kunai as well as having it place then more accurately with the extra room on the sides in the pouch so you wouldn't tear a hole in your pouch after your first kunai." Shikamaru explained in detail.

"Damn kid, why the hell didn't you graduate. I haven't seen anyone with that much attention to detail in seals since cute little Shoko-chan here." Jiraiya said while motioning to Teacher who just scoffed at him.

"I made a team with Naruto and Tenten and did not feel it would be wise to pass the prospect of additional education while it was available." Shikamaru said getting a nod from Naruto and Tenten.

"Honorable, I suppose I wouldn't have abandoned by teammates back when I was that young. Anyway, I guess I should go tell sensei that all of your seals are top notch. If you ever want to use fuin-jutsu for a primary profession, here is my card." Jiraiya said as he pulled out a small card with a seal etched on it and handed it to Shikamaru.

"Run a bit of chakra into it and it will summon a small messenger toad. Give him a message and he will see to it that I get it. Send me something interesting some time." Jiraiya said with a wave and he walked out the door.

"Well well well. Jiraiya-sama found someone interesting. At least it's not me this time." Teacher said under her breath even though everyone still heard her. Shikamaru sighed before putting his head down and wishing everything away.

Everyone took the sound of Shikamaru's head bouncing off his desk as a sign to get back to work. They all had modifications to make to their seals after all. Their teacher just nodded and went back to her own paperwork.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

A few more months had passed. Everyone was getting ready for their monthly get together. Choji had taken a large order from everyone plus other little things that everyone enjoyed from a few clan restaurants. They had agreed that pitching in and getting him to grab the orders was worth the discount after all.

Everyone was just getting everything placed on the table in the guest house when there was a knock at the door. Confused looks were shared until Tenten got up to answer it. The silence was shattered when Tenten screamed.

Everyone bolted to the door, in Naruto and Shikamaru's case, weapons drawn. Tenten was standing at the door with her hands covering her mouth. Outside was Romi. No one could understand why Tenten had screamed until they got a better look at her. Her left arm was gone from the shoulder and her right leg had a thick boot and was wrapped up to her thigh.

"What the hell happened?" Naruto was the first to ask, getting behind the girl and nearly pushing her inside. He lead her to the table and, slightly awkwardly sat her down. Her right leg being completely immobile made it difficult.

Everyone decided to show a bit more tact that Naruto and wait for Romi to start the conversation. She took a deep breath and gave them the run down.

 **xXxXx Flashback xXxXx**

Romi, Sasuke, Sakura and their temporary squad leader Utara, an accomplished chunin, were walking out the gates of the village. They had been leaving for their first C-ranked mission, the escort and guarding of Tazuna back to Nami no Kuni.

The mission itself seemed straightforward. Those thoughts went out the window a few short hours later when they were ambushed by the Demon Brothers. The quick battle that followed left the Demon Brothers dead and Sakura with poison running through her system.

Utara had given her a temporary antidote that would hold the poison at bay for a bit but he did not have the knowledge to cure it. Everyone else was tired from the battle so Sakura was sent to the village to get reinforcements and treatment.

The rest of them set up a temporary shelter while they waited on reinforcements. They were only about five hours from the village at civilian pace so they assumed that Sakura would only take an hour to get to the village. She was told to take a fair pace so the poison wouldn't spread faster than if she full sprinted.

They estimated about an hour and a half max until they arrived. Closing in on the hour mark, a thick mist rolled in. Utara instantly went on alert and no ten seconds later a giant cleaver of a blade flew over their heads.

Everyone managed to dodge and they saw Zabuza perched atop his sword as it stuck out of the tree it landed in. He laughed and started saying how he was going to cash in Utara's bounty. Everything completely went to hell shortly after.

Zabuza instantly separated everyone and started to toy with Utara. He sent a few water clones to keep Romi and Sasuke occupied. They managed to take out the first pair of clones taking only minor injuries.

They managed to take a breath and look back to their squad leader just in time to see the man get beheaded. Zabuza then turned to them both and said something about getting out of the country easier if no one was looking for him.

The mist rolled back in and surrounded them. Sasuke and Romi both stood back to back, kunai in hand. The academy taught everyone that in back to back situations, trust was key. Romi might not have liked Sasuke on a personal level, but she trusted him and that was her mistake.

After a few tense moments, Romi hear a small pop and the weight against her back disappeared. She blinked and tried to roll to her right. There just wasn't any real time to react and she soon found her left arm separated from her body.

Her brain caught up a moment later as the pain finally hit. She only had that half second to register the pain of losing her arm as she was kicked in the back into a tree where she blacked out.

According to reports, a small anbu squad showed up only a few moments later and drove Zabuza off and stopped her bleeding. They returned her and Sasuke back to the village where she spent two weeks in intensive care.

The arm was unable to be saved and her spine took some damage. The nerves connecting her right leg were damaged and full mobility had been compromised. There was significant loss of feeling as well as little muscle activity to speak of.

 **xXxXx Flashback End xXxXx**

To say Naruto was pissed would have been an understatement. Sasuke had gone against everything he was taught in the academy and one of his best friends career was ended because of him selfishness.

"What, what injuries did Sasuke-teme suffer?" Naruto asked bitterly. Absolute venom dripping from his words. Ino and Choji both gawked at his as that was the first thing and of them said after Romi finished her recollection.

Tenten flinched slightly and put her hand over Naruto's on his lap. Shikamaru narrowed his eyes at Naruto and took in the emotions flickering across his face. Raw fury was the young Nara's estimation. Shino kept his mouth shut and watched how everyone handled his question.

"A mild bruised rib, fractured collar bone and a mild concussion." Romi said sadly. She was feeling terrible that she wasn't able to save their captain as well as everyone else getting injuries on the mission. Sakura coming off easiest with an overnight stay in the hospital to flush the toxins from her system.

Naruto lifted both of his hands and slapped them down on the table. "That's it? You lost your captain and you were severely crippled and that is all that bastard got?" Naruto nearly shouted as his fingernails started pulling up chunks from the table.

Tenten's eyes widened drastically as a pit formed in her stomach. It felt like an air of heaviness to everyone but Tenten knew what was happening. She quickly pulled out a senbon and slammed it down into his wrist, pinning it to the table.

He looked at her furiously before her eyes calmed him down a bit. "Holy shit Tenten, are you alright Naruto-kun?" Ino asked as she leaned over the table to pull the senbon out of his wrist. Naruto barely even felt her do it and let her fuss over wrapping his wrist without objection.

Choji had gotten up to go grab some medical supplies from his bag in the guest room he used. Shikamaru and Shino both shared a look and a near invisible nod that something of significance had just happened.

Tenten gave Naruto a small sigh and turned back to Romi. She was doing her best to keep herself calm but Naruto had just given her system a hell of a shock. She had never given thought that Sasuke hadn't even tried to protect her from Zabuza.

"I'm going to talk to Jiji." Naruto said as he got up to leave. No one stopped his as he slammed the door behind himself. Everyone sat is silence for a few moments before Tenten turned to Shikamaru and Shino.

They were both giving her questioning looks and she gave them a firm look telling them to drop it without leaving room for questioning. They both nodded and everyone slowly got over the shock of learning Romi's fate.

They picked at the food for a while before resorting to sitting outside and waiting for Naruto to return. Everyone knew there wasn't much to talk about so they sat mostly in silence.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Naruto stormed to the hokage's office without bothering to stop at the reception desk. He heard the receptionist call up to the hokage and that was enough go ahead for him. If he had been in a meeting, she would have stopped him.

Barging in to the room, Naruto glared daggers at his grandfather in everything but blood. Hiruzen let out a sigh and pushed his paperwork to the side as he got up to brew some tea.

Naruto sat in front of his desk and tried to contain the emotions bubbling to the surface. By the time the tea was ready, Naruto managed to drop down to a slight simmer instead of full boiling with anger.

"I can see something has upset you greatly but unless you tell me I will not know what it is Naruto-kun." Hiruzen said slowly. Naruto nodded and balled his fists again. "Why Romi?" Naruto asked out loud.

Hiruzen knew the name. Botched mission to Wave of course. The girl had been quite skilled in fuin-jutsu and he knew how small that class was every year. They would practically be brother and sister had they went the extra years together.

Hiruzen nodded grimly and started to write a quick message. He rolled it up and snapped his fingers. An anbu dropped from his place in the ceiling to Hiruzen's side. Accepting the scroll and looking at the name on the outside he quickly nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

He was breaking a few protocols but nothing he couldn't get away with. "Naruto-kun, no mission ever goes perfectly. It is a sick truth of the shinobi world we live in. I understand you are upset at a classmates untimely crippling wounds, but what are you so angry about?" Hiruzen asked softly. He had more than an idea but needed to hear it himself.

"The bastard had her back and he just left. She trusted him and he abandoned her. What did she do to deserve all of this." Naruto said as his head started to droop lower and lower.

Hiruzen nodded bitterly. "You are referring to Sasuke Uchiha preforming a substitution in a back to back scenario with a fellow leaf shinobi. His actions have been put forward to the council and a decision has been made." Hiruzen said as Naruto turned his gaze back upward.

There was a knock at the door and the anbu Hiruzen sent not five minutes earlier returned with company. "Shisui Uchiha as requested Hokage-sama." The anbu said before getting a wave from Hiruzen to resume his post hidden in the walls.

"Hokage-sama, I would guess this meeting is over the decision of the council regarding Sasuke." Shisui said with a bow. "It is. Tell me Shisui, what would you have done to your kin after this disgraceful event?" Hiruzen asked sternly.

Naruto was looking between the two men, completely ignored and completely lost. "I would think him being pulled from the ranks pending substantial emotional training and relearning Konoha's moral code from start to finish would be the most appropriate punishment for completely disregarding a fellow shinobi's safety intentionally." Shisui said evenly.

Hiruzen nodded. "That was near word for word the council's decision. The only other precaution was a screening preformed by Inoichi Yamanaka to gather a complete mission report as well as a thorough and complete mind walk thought Sasuke's mind covering from the day of his graduation until the day he starts his sessions with Inoichi. Of course, this is up to your discretion as clan head and the possibility of clan secrets being discovered under such a search thorough his mind will give you the chance to deny the request. In that case, Sasuke's status as shinobi would be completely revoked of course." Hiruzen said as he took another sip from his tea.

"With all due respect Hokage-sama. I know that Fugaku-sama would have never allowed such a search through any Uchiha head. That said, I believe that the Uchiha clan has no need for such paranoia. I will put my faith in Yamanaka-sama to be professional and not make any clan secrets not pertaining directly to the topic of the search widely known." Shisui said with a small bow.

"That is all for now Shisui." Hiruzen said with a wave and Shisui vanished. Naruto blinked before Hiruzen cleared his throat. "Naruto-kun, that was Shisui Uchiha and the standing head of the Uchiha clan. He has just given out finest mind walker unrestricted access to Sasuke's mind. If there was the tiniest bit of malice or no trace of resentment in his mind, he will be stripped of his rank, honor and will never claim his birth right to lead the Uchiha clan in the future. He is not getting off easy, do you understand?" Hiruzen asked.

Naruto nodded dumbly before remaining quiet for a moment. "Is, is there anything you can do for Romi? Any duty she can still preform?" Hiruzen leaned back in his chair and thought on it. Many crippled shinobi became administrators or simple errand runners. Unless her leg healed, she could not be a runner.

"For now, I will offer her a position as errand girl inside the academy. Her record was very clean and she received a few personal recommendations from various teachers. It will not be glamorous, but it will be steady work until her recovery completes." Hiruzen said as he pulled out another scroll and started writing in it.

Naruto waited patiently for him to finish before sealing the scroll and handing it to Naruto. "I assume how fast you ran in, you have seen her recently. Deliver this to her and I will make the arrangements if she accepts." Hiruzen said before standing up.

Naruto followed suit and gave his a quick hug before sprinting out the door as fast as he could. Hiruzen nodded with a small smile before thinking how well the village would turn out in the coming years.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Naruto had run back home as fast as he could to deliver the news to Romi. She showed a bit of excitement but still seemed just tired with all that had happened. She was ordered as an aide to Teacher and would be returning to their fuin-jutsu class as such.

Everyone hurried around excitedly on their way to class. Romi was talking with Teacher before they came in and it looked like she was a bit happier being busy than a few days ago. Romi's duties mostly consisted of running papers for her next door to the archives as well as putting on a show for the newest batch of genin. A poster girl for getting all the education and following their teachers as closely as they could.

Iruka gave her a grim smile after she had given her first speech. They had left the story completely true and uncensored. Her arm was the casualty of a teammate betraying her trust. That was the message sent across to the students and several seemed to take it like a slap to the face.

The following jump in grades had been a good sign that the major reality check had been in order. Over the next few months following after, an average of eight percent growth in grades was observed. She was offered a more stable position as an academy aide and she took it.

The following months had also brought good news medically. Her leg still sported a significant loss of feeling but some strength had been steadily returning. She was out of her cast and boot, returning to light running. This helped tremendously for whenever she needed to run messages to or from the Hokage to the academy.

Any time she got the choice, she would try to stay with Teacher and continue her studies in fuin-jutsu. She had a slight hurdle to pass getting used to channeling her chakra one handed. Nin-jutsu would have taken years to relearn but fuin-jutsu used simple hand seals anyway so it didn't take long.

Back with everyone else, they had all made the adjustments to their seals and Shikamaru sent all of their together to Jiraiya via his card. They got a response a few days later in the form of a messager from the Hokage.

They met up with Hiruzen and he gave them all full authorization to mass produce their first major seals and sell them at their leisure. After they finished an order for several hundred of each to be run through anbu and jonin commanders.

It would be a trickle effect from the top to bottom. Shikaku being the jonin commander had instantly skipped himself and sent it down after Jiraiya gave his own word on the quality. The commander of the anbu forces did the same. From there, they went down the company commanders. Once approved for use below them, the platoon commanders tested them and would call in a training order.

These training orders were usually about fifty to sixty tags. Each platoon would have everyone test them out and the leader of the platoon would accept their use. Squad leaders would then get the go ahead to place orders and decide on a basic amount for standard load-outs.

Once a basic stream of their seals had been received, they would become standard issue or special order. Naruto's had become standard issue very quickly. Tenten's had become slightly more specialty equipment. Shino's and Shikamaru's had been specifically fit for their clans and were taken care of by the leader of their armories.

Naruto had instantly found the flaw in their plan to sell the seals to make a little extra money. With Naruto's seals in particular, they had gotten a very large order. While they were not genin, the order was more of a request that official order but Naruto still treated it as a command.

Naruto had been pushing his clones as hard as he could to mass produce the wind seals. He was up to five clones constant through class with zero negative effects. Hiruzen had told him no more than six active at a time last time he saw him.

He had kept his extra clones busy on that while they all focused on new projects. It wasn't amazing progress, but they started rotating around and completing one seal at a time together and sped up quite a bit.

Naruto had the best base knowledge of fuin-jutsu out of all of them. The notes from his mother's library added to his natural affinity to the art had him putting together a firm base for a new seal faster than anyone else in the class.

Tenten had the deepest understanding of how the human body worked and had gotten to where she could tie almost any seal onto someone without any adverse effects. This had helped them solve problems concerning chakra flow as well.

Shikamaru had the most attention to detail and making seals as efficient as possible. He would strip down Naruto's ideas to the barest of needed pieces and then weave them together to take up as little space as needed for maximum result.

Shino had been the class practical applicator. He had both the smallest handwriting as well as the best trap builder. He found innovative ways to use their seals as well as had a sharp mind to alter seals to different purposes.

Romi had brought back to the classroom a bit of real world experience that the rest of the kids didn't have. Her experience was limited to the various D-ranked missions in the village and her one botched C-rank. Still, sparring with her teammates as well as other genin gave her valuable insight into what people looked for and what they missed.

Teacher stood at the front of the class and smiled to herself as she wrote up a report for the Hokage. With a few bad missions coming from genin in the previous class as well as Romi's incident, the Hokage had called for detailed reports on a monthly basis. Skills, strengths, weaknesses, interactions with classmates, anything that could paint a picture of a loyal shinobi was requested.

Of course Teacher left nothing out in the slightest and noted all of her students in her current class were all very gifted in the art of seals and recommended them all to an office of research. She had received a response shortly after along with an offer to rejoin the sealing corps as acting commander in the absence of Jiraiya. She put the scroll away and considered it for a great while.

Jiraiya would be coming through again in just shy of a month to check up on his new prospects. She knew he would be pleased with the results of their work just like last time. Time would tell. She was looking forward to the next graduation.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Much had happened in their final two years in the academy and they were finally coming to a close. Naruto had passed at the top of nin-jutsu and fuin-jutsu classes. Tenten took the top spot in ken-jutsu and Ino was still being hailed as near prodigy levels in gen-jutsu. Choji also held himself at the top of tai-jutsu uncontested.

Naruto had worked his elemental manipulation into the ground in the last two years. He was highly proficient with his fire and wind affinities and had a fair foundation into his earth and water affinities as well.

In fuin-jutsu, he had completed several of his mother's seals that she had never finished. There had been the odd explosive note as well as the occasional seal that someone brought Teacher to decipher. She had never told those who needed her experience that she left those for her students to crack.

Shikamaru had become impossible to pull apart from Naruto and Tenten. They both cracked through the worst of his lazy attitude and got him to come over many times to either work on seals or just be together.

He nearly sent himself to the hospital the first time that Tenten decided to break the last bit of hesitation and walk in on him and Naruto in the hot spring without a swim suit on. He closed his eyes until he heard a splash land right next to him and he tried to bolt for the door without opening his eyes.

If he had is eyes open, he might have saw just how slippery the area around the hot spring was and not lost his balance instantly. The resulting minor concussion made it much easier to keep him in the hot spring and after a while, he just found it too troublesome to bother anymore.

Shortly after, Naruto finally came clean with him about the nine-tailed fox. He hadn't been trained with its chakra yet, but Shikamaru still needed to know about it. Shikamaru had pretty much the same reaction as Tenten did. He had a deep understanding of seals and just went with it.

He also told him it was probably a good time to tell everyone else about the fox as well. He knew that if Naruto would some day be able to use the fox's chakra, everyone needed to know about it before hand.

They did the same with Choji a few weeks later and the poor boy was so confused. He had always wore a shirt around the girls and it made him more uncomfortable than the girls would have been if they didn't set this up.

It took a few soft words from Ino to get him to at least drop his arms and not sink all the way into the water. Of course that was when he fully realized that both the girls were completely naked as well and Naruto and Shikamaru.

He managed to come all the way out of his shell as he noticed Naruto and Shikamaru's attitude overall. They were maintaining constant eye contact with the girls and the girls were doing the same. He still felt self conscience but Naruto shattered those thoughts rather harshly.

"Choji, listen. I want you to listen to the entirety of what I am about to say without interrupting. Choji, you are fat. You need to understand this all the way through. How strong would you be if you were the size of me or Shika? How many of your clan techniques would be useful at our sizes?" Naruto asked unflinchingly.

To say Choji was pissed at first would have been a major understatement but when he managed to cool off a bit more, Naruto was right. He was so sensitive about his weight for no real reason. If he wasn't the size he was, his clan techniques would be all but useless.

They had never managed to get Shino into the hot springs to break that bit of hesitation. Something about his bugs not liking the minerals in the spring. They still told him, Choji, Ino as well as Romi about the fox. None of them changing their opinions of Naruto or spreading that fact around.

Ino had taken up more studies into poisons and herbs in her spare time. She would be able to identify and use most herbs near the village. Choji had also taken up more of his clans style of cooking. A jonin Akimichi had the talent to prepare a meal that would enhance a person's stamina for hours and he wanted to be able to do that as well.

Shino had been studying with his father as much as he could into the various insects around the village. Naruto had never realized but there were quite a few. Shino had reached a level of maturity as well as chakra capacity to host a second colony in his body. He started breeding a flying beetle that would be solely used to apply seals to enemies. This being their only focus, they were able to be selectively bred for speed rather than chakra consumption.

Tenten had spend several weekends in Higurashi Arms as an assistant. She would watch the front counter for Higurashi or go and run simple errands. The extra money going straight back into the store. This led to an even greater appreciation for weapons and started her training in even more styles. After her butterfly swords and jian sword, she picked up a longer katana, a bo staff as well as a simple glaive. Her glaive being essentially a slightly heavier naginata. She greatly enjoyed training with them all and became proficient with all of them. This gave her an excellent range to fight when the fighting got to melee range.

Tenten had also learned to write gravity and resistance seals and gave them to Ino and Choji. Choji quickly gained even more muscle and his lead in tai-jutsu grew even higher. Ino had been able to build her speed up that her specialty with poisons even deadlier.

They would be rather simple to expand upon for further training but they had bigger plans. It was currently incomplete, but Tenten theorized that she could alter them to gently stimulate their muscles when they weren't actively in use and promote even faster advancement of muscle tone.

They had been using Naruto's clones as a base to test them on. So far, the conclusion was that they hurt like hell. Having Naruto make a test dummy clone required almost three times the chakra he would normally use but they would transmit much more information back to him. Like blinding pain for example.

Shaking away the phantom pains of clones past, he looked back up and stood at attention. Iruka was just finishing his speech in front of the Hokage and various shinobi here to watch the genin prospect teams in action.

The overall schedule had been the same as last time. They went through their physicals and tests and finished with flying colors and were now waiting for their names to be called to demonstrate their skills to the various scouts in attendance.

The entirety of the class was going through the routine before them this time and it took far longer than last time. Their names were finally called with the sigh Shikamaru let out they set forward.

They stepped forward and each introduced themselves and gave the basic run down of their team tactics. Just fuin-jutsu with all ranges covered. They all stepped forward and shook hands with everyone there saying they were looking forward to working with them.

Once they finished shaking everyone's hands, they all stepped back to the center of the arena. "Well then, who wants to get the tar beat out of them by an academy team?" Naruto said loudly. Tenten and Shikamaru were both beaming with confidence as well. "Arrogant aren't you gaki?" Asuma Sarutobi called out tauntingly.

"Thank you for volunteering Asuma-san." Shikamaru said before pulling his hand up in a simple seal before Asuma found himself screaming in pain. Everyone looked at him instantly and saw electricity covering his hand.

He dropped down to one knee and it stopped in an instant. A few chunin had taken offensive stances before Hiruzen started laughing loudly. "I must say, that has to be the funniest thing I have seen all week." He said between laughs.

A few questioning looks from the chunin and a few of the jonin, Hiruzen just waved to the kids still standing there grinning like mad. "None of you are good at fuin-jutsu are you?" Tenten asked, slightly sarcastically.

A few of them shared looks at each other in confusion before Naruto sighed and held up his hand, palm out. There was a small seal drawn onto his palm. More confused looks and Naruto just looked at Hiruzen just nodded, trying to suppress his laughter.

Naruto looked over to his team and they both nodded and held up a hand seal. Everyone pulsed a small amount of chakra and everyone attending found their hands spark with lightning chakra. Their hands went numb before it stopped. Everyone grabbed their hands and stared at it.

In their palms was a small seal that slowly went from glowing blue back down to black. "How?" A chunin asked. "Fuin-jutsu." All three of them said. The chunin seemed to be rather annoyed at that explanation but Hiruzen just chuckled again.

"What do you think Jiraiya-kun?" Hiruzen said making everyone look at him. A brief shimmer of light and Jiraiya was standing right next to him. "Brats did good. I think you were the only one that fully noticed the seal the moment they applied it and even then, no one knew what they did until they were shocked as well." Jiraiya said causing everyone to look down in shame.

"Well I am glad to see you agree. Their tests for their genin promotion was a guarantee anyway." Hiruzen said with a chuckle. "Yup, congrats kiddies, I am drafting you. From this day forward, you will be members of the fuin-jutsu corps. Shoko-chan, take command of the fuin-jutsu corps or enjoy the rest of your retirement being spent in the academy." Jiraiya called out.

A loud sigh from Teacher from her open window in the academy was the reply Jiraiya got. He nodded and turned back to the kids. "Where do we report to and when?" Naruto finally asked. Jiraiya just grinned like a mad man.

"Have Teacher-chan lead you there. I am supposed to give you a week after graduation to take your time and run through the armory, check out the library and a few other things you can do as genin. Tell Teacher-chan to take you next monday. I will still be around to get you all settled in and started on your new assignments. Congrats on the graduation." He said before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"Well, I want to say that is the first time Jiraiya-kun has actually used the authority he has in several years. Anyway, you all did great today and will personally like to say that I look forward to seeing you all in the fields you choose to take. Iruka-kun, I will leave the rest of the debriefing to you." Hiruzen said before he, as well as the rest of the shinobi around dispersed.

"I am proud to say that everyone has gotten passing grades and will receive your promotions tomorrow. Be here first thing tomorrow morning and we will go over the quick graduation ceremony and we will send you out to wherever you are being picked up. Your official assignments will begin a week from tomorrow." Iruka said shortly before waving everyone away.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

 **Well that is a wrap. I made this chapter a bit longer than anticipated because of how slow I was writing it. Currently in the middle of moving and lifting heavy things completely destroys my left arm and fingers.**

 **That being said, I have shown zero improvement since last time I got it checked out over a month ago so amputation sounds great about now.**

 **Other than that, I am actually fairly stuck at this point. I need to define some numbers and that is going to be a major part of the story. I need to define how many shinobi there are in the leaf village as well as an estimate for every other village. I should also probably put out a guess on civilians as well.**

 **Whatever Konoha has will be the base I go off of. Suna being about 20% less. Iwa being about 20% more. Kumo being pretty close to the same. Kiri being something like 30% less.**

 **There is also the matter of dividing the skill levels of troops. I would imagine about 20% being genin, 60% being chunin, 10% special jonin, 8% jonin and 2% being anbu. This is not counting non combat specialized shinobi such as administrators and researchers. These would mostly be chunin level and I probably won't elaborate on their numbers too much.**

 **My first guess would be about 2500 shinobi in Konoha at the current time. That being about 500 genin, 1500 chunin, 250 special jonin, 200 jonin, with only 50 anbu. I feel that to be a bit high on the jonin end so may swap that around a bit more. Let me know what anyone things of that basic outline in a pm and I will tweak it a bit more before next chapter.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Have as many apologies as you want for how late this chapter is. Might as well list off excuses. Moving, twice, still have a pretty jacked up arm, knee and now back, losing most of progress, twice, trying to write other stories, losing progress on other stories, getting distracted helping others with their stories, worth it, being out of fanfiction so long that I felt the need to read a lot, also worth it, stress and pain caused sleep deprivation, and a few other minor things that mostly come up to just plain laziness.**

 **I am going to try and get as much written as I can now that I am on a really bad sleep schedule and currently don't have internet. Probably going to be the most productive weekend I have had in months. I am realizing I really should have started with one-shots and then started a main story shortly after. Trying to make one-shots and this is a hassle.**

 **On a side note, due to people who really couldn't get over being removed from the kik chat I made for this story, I am not going to bother adding new people to the chat until I have had a chance to talk to them. If anyone from 4chan actually read the story and stuck around, points to you.**

 **Oh well, rambling aside, welcome back to Trust By My Side. Let's just get Chapter 19 going.**

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The night flew by for everyone. With the morning came new responsibility. After the quick final ceremony out of the way, everyone stood proud as full fledged shinobi of the leaf.

Naruto, Tenten and Shikamaru had already been drafted and walked past the recruiters around the academy and went right for their old classroom. Teacher welcomed them before tossing them each a scroll and walking out the door motioning for them to follow.

They all read their scrolls as they walked. They were mostly just a list of responsibilities and what to expect in the division. Support missions were common, fulfilling orders for the armory were more common. Only thing that got everyone's interest was research in their downtime would earn them consistent money.

They were brought back to attention as they saw Teacher bite her thumb and swipe it across the door to a building. A large seal appeared for a moment before vanishing. She then swiped a chakra cloaked hand across the lock before walking inside.

"We need to get all of your chakra into the door before we leave but welcome to your new home away from home." Teacher said as she waved her hands around the area. Their first impression was lacking to say the least.

Inside the door was a simple desk with a chair, a filing cabinet and a small slot in the wall behind the desk. From there, they saw a small meeting room, a large table with six chairs.

Continuing their tour to the second story, there was a small kitchen, bathroom as well as a few beds. Teacher explained some projects had required several days to preform during the war. The planning for the villages wall was a good example.

They all just nodded at the convenience of it and said nothing. Going back downstairs, they around a corner past the meeting room and teacher just walked up to a wall. She coated her hand in chakra once more and swiped it in a pattern that looked like two Zs stacked on top of each other before the wall seemed to slide to the side.

All the of them followed Teacher down a set of stairs and noticed the line of adhesive seals along the inside of the wall. That must of kept the wall panel flush with the rest of the walls and sturdy enough so that it wouldn't be jostled if someone tried to move it without unlocking it. They assumed the motion was needed to unlock all the seals. If someone tried it and messed it up, there would probably still be seals activated.

"Welp, here we are, were the magic happens." Teacher said as she herself seemed to be looking around longingly. There were nine doors along the walls of the large underground room. Three on each side minus the side the stairs came down on.

There was also a large, round table in the center with nine chairs around it. Behind the stairs were two more doors. One went to a storage room that had several scrolls that were labeled, kunai, shuriken, senbon, explosive powder, flash powder, scrolls, tags, ink, pens and so forth. There were also a few stacks of the same materials out in the open. They knew instantly the ink and tags were ruined. The room wasn't air tight it seemed and moisture ruined the tags over the years. The ink had completely diffused and wouldn't be salvageable.

Overall, not a huge loss. The other door led to a small archive. There was reference material on advanced theory, both fuin-jutsu as well as more standard physics and chemistry theory. There was a lot of notes on elemental manipulation with fuin-jutsu and even a few on what they all thought was very common practice.

"Teacher, why is a good portion of this academy level?" Naruto asked after a while. "Oh most of this is at least chunin to jonin level. What? Did you think that you were only learning the academy curriculum? I had to talk to Hokage-sama about teaching you more advanced stuff after year two." Teacher said confidently.

They all stared at Teacher for a good minute before she started laughing. "In the fuin-jutsu core's prime, we had nine members. That had taken us a good seven years to finally reach nine. Of those nine, we had one sannin, two special jonin, four chunin, and two genin. Most of the reference material was for the chunin and genin to advance their studies faster to get promoted. We were never front line soldiers, do you know how difficult it is to get promoted outside of the field?" She asked rhetorically.

They all shook their heads. Teacher just chuckled before continuing. "Anyway, fuin-jutsu knowledge wise, you are all chunin worthy already. The only reason I am not putting in a request to get you promoted is lack of experience. We will give it a few months, get a few missions, fill a few orders and promotion will come quickly for you guys." Teacher stated proudly.

"Wait, what we learned in the academy was seriously chunin level? Did any of the other teachers train us up to chunin level?" Naruto asked. "From what I heard in the break room, nin-jutsu, most of the class had been nearing chunin level with their affinities. With tai-jutsu and ken-jutsu, the extra two years should be enough for you to be as physically strong as a chunin level shinobi of similar size." Teacher explained as she thought on it a bit.

"The extra two years you all took was basically an intro into being chunin skilled. You were all genin strength at least after your fourth year. Most genin approach chunin level within two years of graduating easily, and that is juggling low ranked missions and recovering from missions. You never had any of that, only two years of training and cultivating your talents." Teacher reasoned.

Naruto just shrugged, it made enough sense to him. It was Shikamaru that spoke up next. "What are the requirements to become a chunin?" He asked.

"Well, its not a black and white requirement per say. The chunin exams roll around every six months or so, the last one ending a few weeks back. To enter you need around forty completed missions, at least ten of those being higher than C-rank. That would be simplest way. Other ways include displaying great leadership, communication, and teamwork skills in an open field of battle in front of higher ranking shinobi." Teacher started explaining.

"Most times they would be a chunin in charge of whatever mission you got to see combat in. You of course need to have the raw talent to get promoted as well as experience and a good record. Other ways is going above and beyond in an office type setting. These would be the die hards in the archives that train their bodies to go without sleep for days at a time to accomplish absurd amounts of work. For us, it would be researching and developing innovative seals for the village as well as being damn good at any missions we get. Something that will be pretty easy to do." Teacher finished.

"So we could get promoted for just making innovative seals? Hell we did that in the academy." Naruto said. "True, that wind seal was probably jonin level of skill and you probably have an A-rank research mission on your record already. Wouldn't surprise me. You still will need a good amount of mission reputation because we are both a research and combat division." Teacher lectured at Naruto's attitude.

"That's fair I suppose. Jiraiya-sama said we don't start for a week, what do we have to do until then?" Tenten asked. "It is more of a small transition period that all graduates get. You can go straight to work if you all wanted. I think all we have now is an order from Jiraiya-sama to make a seal that can silently punch a three foot wide hole in a solid earth wall at least three feet deep without making any noise. A-rank right out of the gate kids." Teacher said.

"I thought we would start at like D-rank and work our way up. Aren't genin supposed to be blocked from B-rank and up anyway?" Shikamaru asked. Teacher just grinned at him. "Well, if you would rather go and do a regular D-rank mission. I hear Tora the cat has gone missing again. Pay is pretty good for a D-rank, about 10,000 ryo between the three of you." Teacher said.

"Wait, someone is paying 10,000 ryo to capture a missing cat? The hell?" Naruto asked having money signs in his eyes just like Tenten. "Well, the cat is Lady Shijimi's cat. It has been nicknamed Devil Spawn, Death Incarnate, Genin Slayer. I am pretty sure Hokage-sama keeps high scores on how fast it can be caught. Last I knew, Shisui Uchiha had the record at sixteen minutes. Itachi Uchiha had seventeen and I think the next best was around an hour and fifteen minutes with a three man tracker squad." Teacher said between laughs.

Naruto and Tenten looked at each other and nodded. "So, this cat runs away a lot huh?" Naruto asked. "Like at least three times a week, if it takes more than a day to capture." Teacher said, still laughing. "Welp, I'm going to find a way to make that mission ours only. Shikamaru, you in?" Naruto asked. Thinking along the same lines and Naruto, he nodded. Teacher was banging on the desk at this point.

She only stopped when she saw Naruto grab a scroll on space-time fuin-jutsu from the shelf. She instantly froze up at that. If they messed up with space-time fuin-jutsu, they could kill the cat. Why were they even using fuin-jutsu to capture a cat.

"Uhhh, what's your plan there Naruto." Teacher asked cautiously. "Catch the cat, hide a summoning seal on it, have Jiji call for me whenever the cat goes missing, be rich?" Naruto said like it was obvious. "That, could, work. Never let Madam Shijimi find out. Or anyone else for that matter. A lot of people hate that cat. If they find out how easy you have been capturing it, they could seek vengeance." Teacher said, staring off blankly.

Everyone looked between themselves and shrugged before pouring over the space-time theory. They didn't read long before they realized they should probably go back and find Ino, Choji and Shino and see where they decided to go.

"Everyone add your chakra to the door on the way out so you can get back in. I'm taking the week off myself but you can come in any time. I suppose might as well meet here at nine in the morning at the end of the week. We have another week after that to finish Jiraiya-sama's seal before he will be back to collect." Teacher said as everyone started to leave. They all waved back at her and added their chakra to the seal and walked back to the academy.

They weren't very far away and made it back in a few minutes of casual walking. Looking around, they saw their friends they were looking for coming back from a different direction. "Good timing guys." Ino called out.

"So, where did you guys join?" Naruto asked. "Reserve Capture and Interrogation Division." Shino replied. "You joined the reserves?" Shikamaru asked. Choji just nodded and continued to read the scroll he had. Shikamaru assumed it was his new mission statement.

"Pretty much whenever there is a mission that would need a little more help than a second full chunin squad that has the potential of capturing enemies with valuable intelligence. We would be sent out. We are only reserve because we will all be training or working with other divisions in our down time." Ino explained.

"Does that mean you are all going to be pretty much apprenticing in other divisions while staying on call inside the village?" Tenten asked. "Pretty much. I am going to go with Daddy into T&I. Get a more hands on training in interrogation. Shino said he was going to join you guys in the fuin-jutsu division. Choji was going to mostly be working with his clan and maybe wall patrol." Ino listed off.

Everyone nodded and had to admit, seemed like it would be a good plan. They could do what they wanted in the walls alone and still be a team when they were needed. Was rather brilliant overall.

"Do you guys still want to try and get together once a month or so to catch up and such?" Naruto asked. It was a little surreal for him. Seeing that everyone had their own responsibilities and such. Granted him, Tenten, Shikamaru and occasionally Shino would be working together quite a bit.

Everyone seemed to think that was an obvious thing. They all shared a laugh and started walking to a buffet owned by the Akimichi clan. It was the one Choji helped at out during the academy. They frequented it over the years because of the great discounts they got. Employee discount, family discount, extended family discount. They really piled up over the years.

It had been a shock when they called Naruto and Tenten extended family when they ate their together without Choji for the first time. They were family friends of the Akimichi, Yamanaka and Nara clans. Granted a lot of people were friends of those families, it didn't do anything to diminish the feeling of acceptance they had gotten at the time.

"Oh yeah, I was supposed to go see Jiji after we got done at the academy. I gotta run guys. I'll see ya all sooner or later." Naruto said before he dropped some money for his meal on the table and ran out the door.

"Do you know what that was all about?" Shikamaru asked Tenten. "I don't remember. I know he had been talking about it, don't remember the reason though." She said, looking just as confused as everyone else.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

A few minutes later in the hokage's office. "Hey Jiji, you said you wanted to talk to me after I graduated right?" Naruto asked after he closed the door behind him. "Ah yes, I was expecting to see you some time this week Naruto-kun, not exactly the day you graduated." Hiruzen said with a light chuckle as he motioned Naruto to sit down.

Hiruzen activated the security seals in his office and leaned forward closer to Naruto. Naruto instantly knowing this was serious and nodded. "Naruto-kun, Jiraiya-kun is going to be back in the village in about two weeks. With your position as jinchuriki as well as you and your teams advanced knowledge on fuin-jutsu, Jiraiya-kun is going to take you three on a trip to both get you started on using the Kyuubi's chakra as well as teaching them how to build a powerful enough barrier to contain you while you train." Hiruzen said, gauging Naruto's reactions.

"I understand Jiji. With the limited contact I have had with Kyuubi-dono, he has said multiple times that he believes I will have little to no trouble controlling some of his power. Do you know what he means by that?" Naruto asked.

Hiruzen pondered it a for a little bit. "The seal that holds back the Kyuubi is arguably the strongest seal known to man. It was created with the power of Shinigami-sama himself. The fourth hokage's own addition to the seal allowed the tiniest trickle of the Kyuubi's chakra to merge with your own over time. By Jiraiya-kun's estimation, your chakra should have a tolerance to the demonic chakra far beyond even what Kushina-chan had. She was the closest we ever had to a complete jinchuriki and if Jiraiya-kun thinks you could surpass that, I am inclined to believe him." Hiruzen said.

"His estimation is solely on the fact that I have small amounts of Kyuubi-dono's chakra merged with my own? Do you know how much of my chakra is my own?" Naruto asked, slightly confused. "All of your chakra is your own. As I said, Kyuubi's chakra merely merged with your own, making it flow stronger, denser and such. You should have had a physical just before you graduated right? What was your chakra score at?" Hiruzen asked. He had already known but wanted Naruto to understand his growth himself.

"2,700 or so according to Dr. Alda." Naruto answered. "You chakra is over ten time stronger than it was when you entered the academy Naruto-kun. Do you know how much chakra your average chunin has?" Hiruzen asked. Naruto just shook his head.

"Around 300 to 600, depending on specialty. Considering you are completely well rounded, if you had chosen to focus only on nin-jutsu, you could have had up to a 3,500 chakra score. That being said, of that 2,700 chakra score you have, Jiraiya-kun assumed about 5% of that would have been Kyuubi's chakra mixed with your own. That's still 2565 that is all your own." Hiruzen explained.

"Only 5% of my chakra is Kyuubi-dono's? How do I have that much then?" Naruto asked. "Kyuubi's chakra in your system has been causing additional strain on your chakra pathways over the years. Once again, Jiraiya-kun estimated that you would be able to preform the highest ranked jutsu with little to no strain if you managed to keep your chakra control passable. With how much you have, staying as far ahead on your chakra control as you have is a great testament to your dedication to your training." Hiruzen said proudly.

"Thanks Jiji, but aren't we getting a little off topic?" Naruto asked. "Ah yes, my point is, currently you have 5% of your chakra as Kyuubi's chakra. Just completely idle, not doing anything at all, you have 5% as demonic chakra. If you were to say, pull on Kyuubi's chakra to bump that ratio up to 10%, you would become far more powerful. Normally, it a huge shock when jinchuriki first try to preform that, with you, you already have fully acclimated to the chakra as it has been there since birth." Hiruzen explained.

"That makes sense to me. What am I going to have to do to train with the chakra?" Naruto asked. "Jiraiya-kun has some notes from when Kushina-chan started training. I am sure he will be able to explain it far better than I can." Hiruzen said smoothly.

"Ok Jiji. Wait, if I have ten times as much chakra as when I started the academy, does that mean I can start using more clones?" Naruto asked. Hiruzen merely chuckled. "I suppose I should lift that restriction on you. Just never try to use more clones than you have before in a combat situation. Also take it slow when you try to find your maximum. There is not only the chakra cost to worry about, the mental backlash could cause several nasty side effects if not careful." Hiruzen explained.

"I think I got the backlash part already figured out. Ino had given me some advice on meditating that helps narrow the back lash down quite a bit." Naruto replied. "Well, going to a Yamanaka to help with that is brilliant if I do say so myself." Hiruzen said with a chuckle.

They sat and chatted idly for a little while longer before Hiruzen needed to get back to work. "I am sure Jiraiya-kun will find you at the fuin-jutsu core's headquarters when he gets back in town. Till then, take care Naruto-kun." Hiruzen said as Naruto left. Hiruzen sighed after he left.

'I hope he doesn't question Jiraiya too much on why he is suddenly being trained in the Kyuubi's chakra. I think he assumes it is because he is a genin now it is to be expected to get new training. Jiraiya never was the most patient and might just let slip that the world is more dangerous than the academy leads one to believe.' Hiruzen lamented before returning to work.

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Naruto walked back home a little slower than usual. His friends all knew about the Kyuubi, but it still didn't make him want to expose them to him. He could still remember when the Kyuubi blasted Inoichi with killing intent all those years ago. He was truly frightening, even if he didn't show much fear at the time.

Returning home, he fount Tenten and Shikamaru waiting for him. "What did Hokage-sama need Naruto-kun?" Tenten asked a moment after he got inside. "Well, when Jiraiya-sama comes back, he is going to start teaching me to use the Kyuubi's chakra. He also wants to teach you two how to make a barrier to contain a biju, in case something goes wrong." Naruto said slowly.

They both looked at each other and just nodded. No words needed to be said. Naruto just sighed. He was a little worried. The Kyuubi had said it would be simple for him to master his chakra, even Jiji had said he already had a good headstart going forward. He was still just nervous. Using the demonic chakra was completely foreign to him.

"Quit dwelling on it Naruto. If Hokage-sama thinks you are ready, you are ready. Besides, Jiraiya-sama will have to be there to teach us how to do the barriers. He will make sure nothing goes wrong." Shikamaru tried to reason. Naruto just nodded robotically and let it drop.

"We still have two weeks. Let's just get a head start on Jiraiya-sama's mission. Some good old fashioned research will take your mind off it." Tenten chimed in after the silence became unbearable. "What did we need to do? Punch a hole in an earth wall? Shouldn't be that difficult." Naruto said, waving everyone toward his office.

Naruto quickly found the scrolls he was looking for. Two scrolls that were an overall set of notes about earth manipulation as well as water manipulation with fuin-jutsu. His mother had not been the best at earth jutsu, but her water jutsu was top notch. Naruto himself had been building an earth affinity from the ground up for years at it was one of his secondary affinities.

"Honestly this doesn't seem all that difficult overall, does it?" Naruto asked after studying for only twenty minutes. "Yeah, why give us a whole week for this?" Shikamaru agreed. "Maybe it is just genin level stuff and Teacher said we are pretty much chunin in fuin-jutsu skill." Tenten supplied in. Everyone nodded at that.

"What was your first thought Naruto?" Shikamaru asked. "Well, if I were to put a silencing seal on the wall, activate it, then drop a seal that would cut out the hole with pressurized water. If the water goes in kind of a circular motion, it could cut out a large section of a wall and then we just seal up the giant rock that was left behind as well as all the water used." He said.

"That works pretty well honestly. I would have tried and put a seal that would have saturated the wall and destroyed it by pretty much turning it to clay and then just pulling the clay into a seal." Tenten replied. "I think both of those would work better than heating the outside of the area we need to get rid of and then blasting it with frozen water. If we could freeze the water that was in the gap it made, it would crack it open even wider. Then just a matter of sealing the rock and ice up."Shikamaru replied.

Everyone thought over every seal for a few minutes before Naruto spoke up first. "I think Tenten-chan's seal fits what is requested the closest, but it would also be the slowest." He said. "Shika's tag would probably work the fastest, but would cause be biggest mess." Tenten said. "Naruto's tag probably functions the best, but would require multiple seals to work properly." Shikamaru said finally.

They all stopped to think on it again. Every seal could be fixed to complete the mission. "We have enough time, why don't we just fix all three of them and send them all in." Naruto suggested. A suggestion that was quickly accepted and everyone got back to their seals with the new critisism in mind.

They had worked on their seals for the better part of the night. Shikamaru ended up just staying the night, over the years, he had set up his own room in the main house. They would work a bit more over the next week but not near as hard as they did that day.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

With their week off finished, Naruto, Shikamaru and Tenten made their way to their new offices bright and early. They had combined their seals and were ready for Jiraiya whenever he made it back to the village. Teacher welcomed them all in and pointed out a pot of coffee ready for them.

"Remember, if you ever set up a meeting with anyone, have a pot of coffee and tea available. It is common courtesy as well as makes a fine first impression. We have been out of the business for a long time and our reputation has suffered because of it." Teacher lectured before making her way to the front desk.

"So, what are we doing first?" Naruto asked after she got herself settled in her chair. "Well, you all got that seal Jiraiya-sama ordered, might as well knock that out of the way. One of you needs to go run and get more ink and such. Still have some that were sealed but not enough if we get a large scale order." Teacher said as she started going through a drawer in the desk.

"Teacher, we already finished Jiraiya-sama's mission. Also, what funds are we supposed to use to buy the supplies we need?" Tenten asked. Teacher just looked at them for a second and shrugged, going back to digging in the drawer. A moment later she pulled out a dusty scroll.

"Damn it has been a while I suppose. One of you needs to run this to the bank as well as to Hokage-sama after you are done there. It is the account for our funding. The banks need to reactivate the account and Hokage-sama will need the information to send us our research budget as an organization. Everyone will get their own research grants, but this account will be for anything used specifically here, not personal use." Teacher explained, pointing the scroll at the three of them.

"As an organization, we are allowed to set up deals of our own within the village right?" Naruto asked. "Well, as long as you don't sell anything considered confidential or untested. Just don't dig yourselves a hole you can't work your way out of." Teacher answered.

"Tenten, you should stop and see Higurashi and get supplies from him. You have the best standing with him as well as probably the best negotiator out of the three of us. Try to set up a deal to get papers and ink really cheap in exchange for quality explosive tags and sealing scrolls on the cheap side in return." Naruto suggested.

"Ok, so bank, Hokage-sama, then Higurashi's? Ok, I'll be back soon." Tenten said as she grabbed the scroll and headed out the door. Teacher just nodded in approval. "Ok, with that sorted, Shikamaru, go take a full stock of everything that is useable or salvageable from the supply room. Naruto, show me the seals you guys made for Jiraiya-sama." Teacher ordered. Shikamaru just nodded and headed downstairs.

Naruto pulled out a tag, it was about a foot across and six inches tall. It was laid out in front of teacher and she quickly started going through it. It only took her about two minutes before she whistled and nodded at Naruto.

"I would say it is good. You have tested it right? Good, Jiraiya-sama will be in a week and pick his favorite and we will go from there." Teacher said after Naruto nodded about testing them. "What else do we have to do today Teacher?" Naruto asked.

"Well shit, I suppose we should start working on basic tags and seals we will be selling to the armory and smiths around town. No doubt Higurashi will want to buy all of your seals personally. Get with Shikamaru and see what we got. Probably make all of what we have left over into low grade stuff. Don't write anything too high end on the old stuff." Teacher ordered. Getting a nod from Naruto, she went back to organizing the desk she was sitting at. It was good to be in charge, less grunt work for her.

Down the stairs, Shikamaru was making quick work of all the resources they still had. There really wasn't much that survived the years. Only a few hundred tags and a hand full of scrolls. The ink that had been sealed was useable, just not really suited for anything complicated. They usually altered their ink anyway.

"Hey Shika, what's it looking like?" Naruto asked. "About as good as I would have guessed. Only a few hundred small seals and probably twenty or so scrolls. Ink is almost all junky quality as well. Probably only be good for some basic explosive tags." Shikamaru explained.

"About all we need at the moment. I'm going to write up a few dozen explosive notes with what we got left so we can cycle some new gear in." Naruto said as he grabbed a small stack of tags and a jar of ink. "This stuff really is pretty crappy huh?" Naruto said as he could see a few chunks forming in the jar he picked up.

"Yeah, you have a high water affinity, try and sift out the crap in it." Shikamaru suggested. "Yeah, I have to do it from time to time, not too difficult." Naruto said as he started channeling chakra into his hand. The gunk that had built up over the years soon drifted to the top of the jar.

Naruto pulled out a black stained handkerchief and gently dipped it into the jar. It soaked up a bit of the ink as well as all the gunk. After a few seconds, most of the good ink had dripped back into the jar and Naruto channeled the slightest bit of fire charka into his hand to dry the handkercheif.

Shikamaru just nodded and passed him a scroll that had all the ink sealed in it. Naruto just sighed and got to filtering out all the ink. It took maybe five minutes for him to rememeber he had clones. He quickly made six and had them take the good ink and go start writing seals. Naruto had let a few drops of blood into each of them as he had handed them to a clone. Doing that for six of them, the rest he didn't do that with.

Shikamaru nodded when he saw Naruto didn't drop his blood into all of them. It would make the ink more receptive to him, but harder to work with for everyone else. By the time Naruto had finished clearing out the ink, they were left with about eighteen full vials, including the ones that Naruto's clones were using. Naruto's clones had been making short work of the seals they had been given.

In the ten minutes Naruto took to clean out the ink, they had written up close to fifty basic tags. Had to admit, having a few extra clones made everything go by so much faster. He also remembered that Jiji had said he could make as many clones as he wanted, as long as he was careful about it. The dollar signs had started appearing before Naruto shook those thoughts aside.

"Well, I guess the clones got that handled, I'm going to go and ask Teacher if there is anything else that needs to be done." Naruto said with a slight wave. "Tell her I will be up with the totals in a few minutes." Shikamaru called out.

"Well that was fast, did we not have much that was useful sealed up or what?" Teacher asked as she saw Naruto come back into the room. "No, we got a fair few tags and a dozen workable jars of ink. I have six shadow clones working on making some low class explosive tags. Anything else we need to get done?" Naruto asked.

"How many shadow clones can you make now Naruto?" Teacher asked. "I honestly don't know. Jiji had me limited to four max through the academy. I have like ten times the chakra I did then as well as a ton more chakra control. I would think I could make about fifty or so? Probably wouldn't want to make more than thirty if they are doing sealing though." Naruto elaborated.

"Damn kid. Well, while you are here, we got space for about eighteen people or so. Fill the place up but don't go past that. Also don't have them writing up anything experimental." Teacher suggested. "I can do that." Naruto confirmed before he stopped. "We are going to need a lot more supplies aren't we?" He asked. Teacher just nodded with a grin on her face.

"I guess we can do that after our first checks come in. Until then, we really don't have much else to do, do we?" Naruto asked. "Well, not particularly. We are primarily research focused so should probably do some research. Hokage-sama expects at least something new every now and again. Make some clones go and read what we got here. Most of it you should already know but a few jonin level things in there that you won't." Teacher said.

"Sounds like a plan. Any suggestions on what we should work on first?" Naruto asked as he stopped at the door. "Not really. It is early in your time here so work on stuff that interests you first. We don't have any parameters yet so make a fun seal." Teacher said with a wave. Naruto nodded and headed back down stairs.

Naruto just plopped down in the first chair he saw and thought about what to make for a moment. "Ninja life not quite what you were hoping for?" Shikamaru asked. "Not that, I just thought we would have, I don't know, more direction maybe?" Naruto said.

Shikamaru nodded. Since Naruto didn't say anything to him, he assumed there wasn't anything else that needed to be done. He asked anyway. "What do we have to do next?" He asked. "Well, research I suppose. I am going to have clones read everything we got here and maybe send one to look into the library. I doubt there will be anything worthwhile in the genin section but worth a shot. Other than that, yeah, we got nothing." Naruto said.

Shikamaru just nodded again. He went up and gave Teacher a list of what supplies they had, minus what Naruto's clones had already been working on. He came back down a few moments later. "I guess it really is just personal research for the time being. I think I am just going to work on some more ease of life stuff that really should have been built by now. Do you still have the time-space scroll you grabbed?" Shikamaru asked.

"Put it back in the back room." Naruto said as he slapped himself a few times and made enough clones to fill the area. "Hey, what rooms do we want to claim as our own?" He asked as Shikamaru came back in. "I want the one closest to the supply room." He said as he walked into it and flicked on the light.

"Of course you would." Naruto said under his breath. He went to the one on the other side of room, next to the little library they had. He would feel a little bad about Tenten not getting to chose one but brushed it off.

He still wasn't sure what he should work on. Picking his brain for a while, he decided to just read his mother's research journal that he kept on him. There were many incomplete seals that she had been working on over the years. During the academy, he and Teacher had worked out a few but there were still many to go.

It would be a good starting point if nothing else. 'Distraction seals, route markers, advanced adhesive seals, magnetic seals. That one got his curiosity peaked. He started reading through it and it was basically an imitation of the magnet release that was slightly common in Suna's kage over the years.

The way Kushina had described it was a combination of primarily earth release with a secondary lightning release. Seen as more adding lightning to a strong earth affinity, magnet release had high potential for any application.

'Even though I don't have a lightning affinity, I could still probably find a way to make that work. Probably need to find someone that has a lightning affinity to get at least some understanding of the element.' Naruto thought as he continued reading the notes.

Kushina had been rather meticulous when it came to fuin-jutsu notes. Naruto had an overall basic understanding of the incomplete seals he was looking at. A seal that would pull any metal within five feet of the target directly into it, she also started a seal that would allow her to add it to a kunai and cause it to knock other kunai out of the air, definitely something Naruto could see use in.

He was so focused on the notes he barely registered Tenten returning from her trip around town. "Hey Naruto-kun, Higurashi-san has an order for us." She called into his small office room. "Huh, oh, what does he need?" Naruto said, looking up from the notes.

"Nothing complicated, just six hundred explosive tags, mostly basic quality ones, as well as around fifty more storage seals. We have about three days so no rush." She replied. "Three days? Did we ever tell him that we could make that in one if he really needed to? If you missed it, I have no real limit on how many clones I can make now, I could have them fill the order in, not sure, maybe an hour or so." Naruto replied.

Tenten just nodded. "Yeah, we will have to negotiate prices with him when he deliver the order. Have the clones make a few extra, we will have to take him out for a demonstration." Tenten replied. "So, what do we have to do now?" She asked.

"Well, research I guess. I am going to try and make a magnetic seal that imitates the magnet release that a few Kazekages could use." Naruto replied. Tenten sighed a bit before pulling a scroll out of her pocket and skimming the contents.

"I guess I will try and tinker with the resistance seals I had been working on a long time ago. I have a bit better understanding of medical jutsu so should be able to complete it now." She said, getting a flinch out of Naruto and all of his clones.

She just sighed at his reaction and turned to take up the office next to Naruto's. Naruto relaxed a bit when she left, the feedback from his clones the first time around still had a mental scar that would never heal. That aside, if she did complete that seal, it would be a true masterpiece.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

"Goooooood moooorning new recruits." Came a call from the stairway five days later. "Good morning Jiraiya-sama." Came a lackluster reply from Naruto, Tenten and Shikamaru. "My my, what is with the lame reply?" Jiraiya asked. Getting no reply he just shrugged. "So, did you guys finish my seal yet?" He asked after a moment of silence.

"Yeah, we had that done a week ago." Naruto replied. "Oh ho hoo, really now? Well, come on kiddos, let's go test this thing." He said as he hopped back up the stairs. Tenten and Shikamaru both looked at Naruto. "You guys suck." He said before he got up, made a clone to replace himself and walked to follow Jiraiya to the training grounds.

Arriving a few moments later, Jiraiya stopped and turned to Naruto. "So, what did you guys come up with?" Jiraiya asked as he turned and walked a little ways into the training ground. "Basically, seal will silence everything within a ten foot radius of the seal, heat a line where the hole will go through the wall, bore several thin holes with pressurized water and freeze the water, breaking the wall and then seal the chunk and ice leaving a hole behind." Naruto replied.

Jiraiya thought about it and nodded after a few minutes. "Ok, let's see it in action." He finally said before flipping through a few hand seals and slamming his hands on the ground. A seven foot tall, seven foot wide and three feet thick wall appeared just in front of him.

Naruto didn't catch it, but Jiraiya was slightly winded because of how much chakra he threw into that wall. "Ok, punch a hole in it." Jiraiya commanded. Naruto just shrugged and placed the seal directly in the center of the wall. He ran chakra into the center of the seal, took a step back, flipped through three seals and held the last one.

No sound was made, but Jiraiya could see over a dozen thin streams of water blast out of the back of the wall and stop just a few inches past the wall. A moment later, a dozen more blasts of water came out in between the previous ones, also stopping just a few inches past the wall. They all froze and Jiraiya could see the cracks form in the wall. A few seconds later, the wall completely cracked all the way around the hole and it was sealed up and fell harmlessly to the ground.

"Well I am impressed. I didn't hear a damn thing and I made that wall as sturdy as I could. That will do indeed." Jiraiya said as he checked out the hole. "Yup, so, are we still doing that other thing in a few days?" Naruto asked, slightly cautiosly. "Yeah, don't worry about it so much. I can contain you if something goes wrong and we will go slowly enough that nothing should go wrong anyway." Jiraiya assured him.

"Well, let's go talk to Sarutobi-sensei and tell them of your first A-rank mission complete, shall we?" Jiraiya said as he sunk the wall back into the ground and started walking toward the tower. Naruto just nodded and followed suit. Payday was too good to pass after all.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

 **That is a wrap. My god that took way longer than it should have. Physical therapy was pretty much a bust and no closer to solving my physical problems that I was shortly after I started the story.**

 **-Edit- Got review asking why I have magnet release as Earth and Lightning instead of Earth and Wind. Because that makes absolutely zero sense to me in the slightest. I had put in chapter one that I would be changing how Bloodlines work and this falls into that category. I made a chart for myself of what each elemental bloodline consists of. Anyone can learn any of those combination elements if they have a proper balance in their affinities. An example would be Hiruzen would know Lava release because of his extrodinary fire and earth affinities. Not really a spoiler in my book because it is pretty much canon but it also makes the best example. 9/10 if something isn't canon jutsu or chakra wise, I changed it because it either didn't make sense, works with my story in particular better, or something along those lines.**

 **Other than that, been completely out of energy lately. No idea what it is but really starting to take a toll on me. I am normally a 4-12 sleeper, now I can barely stay awake until 10pm. Start feeling sick and lightheaded. Usually when I would write so putting a delay on that as well.**

 **Said in in the intro but basically lost a few months work on building new stories, continuing this and other stories, as well as just overall info that I had been compiling. Felt like a slap in the face and I steped back from fanfiction for a bit after that.**

 **Regardless, got the chapter out, relatively happy with it and looking forward to continuing it. Never try to write one-shots and juggle two main stories. Nightmare if I ever had one. Think I have like 5 more stories I want to finish. One had all the early years out of the way and it is just smooth sailing from there so it isn't bad. Others, yeah, childhood in new stories is tricky.**

 **Rambled enough. Hope you like the chapter and see you in the next one.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Welcome back everyone. This chapter should be out a ton faster than the last one. Have other good news as well. I managed to recover all of my progress from my laptop that is all but dead.**

 **Of course I finally managed to do that after I completely rewrote the last chapter and well over 18k words on another story, but still, the start of at least three other stories is nice to have back as well as a few bits of notes I could use.**

 **This chapter is probably going to make a few people want to instantly comment and rage at me. Read the notes at the end of the chapter before you write a hasty review.**

 **Sorry if this is a little sloppy. Basically having internet shut off from time to time and have a window to post so rushed it a bit. If you think it is a significant drop in quality, pm and I can fix it up a bit and fix the chapter at a later date.**

 **Other than that, not all too much else to say so let's just get into Chapter 20 of Trust By My Side.**

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Naruto was grinning ear to ear as he left the bank. That mission had net the group a solid three hundred thousand ryo. Really good considering it was a week project. He would need to talk to Teacher about how it would be split overall but even if it all went to division, he still got a ton out of it.

He arrived back at the headquarters and started explaining what they were paid to Teacher. "Well, it was an official mission so all of the payment should go straight into the division wallet. Then again, since Jiraiya-sama is never here, I am in charge, so cut out thirty thousand of that for each of you and drop the rest into resupplying the store room." Teacher said. Naruto's eyes lit up even more and quickly retook a serious tone and asked if there were more missions yet.

"Nope, we are brand new Naruto. Any reputation we had is gone. I would recommend whipping up a few new seals for the boys in R&D and try to get a constant contract with the anbu to make them. That will be a steady stream of money that will support more research. In between that, I would say we just got over two hundred thousand ryo, go out and blow it all on stuff for explosive seals and make them when you get back." Teacher said evenly.

Naruto nodded and headed out to Higurashi's. The trip was quick, he only needed tags, blast powder and he got a few bags of small scraps he had Higurashi making for him. He also got a good number of senbon and more ink. Teacher wanted him to make a ton of seals when he got back so might as well make a variety.

Naruto made it back and stopped to talk to Teacher. "Is there anything else we need done or should I just head downstairs?" He asked. Teacher just sat back down and looked up. "Well, tear through a few hundred explosive tags as well as a few fancy ones to send to the anbu. Also probably should get a head start on your wind seals, they are going to sell like no other soon enough." She replied, waving him downstairs.

He guessed he should talk to everyone and see what they were working on for the day before he got started. They hadn't really gotten around to it earlier that morning. "What are you working on Tenten-chan?" He asked as he popped his head into her office.

"Working on the seals I had in mind all week. I think I'll have them complete in a week too. They should mend muscles and promote healing as well as make the muscles get more from a work out. Almost everything that promotes muscle growth and efficiency will be regulated as well as the seal fits inside of resistance and gravity seals like the ones we have." Tenten said.

"That, sounds great." Naruto said weakly. Tenten just glared at him for reminding her of the first failed attempt. It was one of the few things Tenten was embarrassed about.

Naruto just regained himself and left, closing the door behind himself. He walked across the meeting room they had and walked in on Shikamaru. "What are you working on Shika?" He asked.

"A transportation seal. We have several types already in the village, but I want to make one that can link with other storage seals, kind of a buffer if you want to think about it like that. I have most of it sorted, just need to make it smaller so it would be portable." Shikamaru replied.

"That is awesome. I think I have the magnet seal I started last week almost done. Just need to modify it to, well, work. It is functional, not practical. If I made it strong enough to deflect kunai or something, it would be super short term, not valuable on a battle field." Naruto explained.

Shikamaru paused what he was doing for a moment to think before he had a solution. "So you said you managed to recreate magnet release with fuin-jutsu correct?" He asked, getting a nod from Naruto. "How much force could it pump out?" He asked once more. "If I use what I got now, enough to stop a thrown kunai once." Naruto replied.

Shikamaru thought on it some more. "What if you overloaded it with lightning chakra? Would it put out more force?" He asked. "I am pretty sure I could make that work." Naruto said slowly. "Well why don't you try and build a senbon launcher with the seal. Or send a few of them to R&D and have them do it." Shikamaru suggested.

"Yeah, I bet the R&D guys could probably get a senbon flying way faster than a normal person could throw. Good idea Shika. I should probably make a few more seals that are a bit more flexible before I ask about sending it to R&D." Naruto said before rushing back to his office.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

A week went by quick and everyone's seals were nearing completion. Naruto had his magnet release seals worked out and had made several hundred explosive tags as well as a few hundred of his wind seals.

They were in the office for about two hours before Tenten came to his office asking him to make a test clone. He gulped slightly and made a super durable clone that would send back pain and fatigue when it dispelled.

It was only three hours later before Tenten came into his office. "Ok, clone had a two hour hardcore workout and an hour to sit. Dispel it and tell me how much pain it puts you through." Tenten said firmly.

Naruto scooted his chair back a bit, braced himself and dispelled the clone. He blinked a few times and looked up with a smile. "Nothing adverse like last time. I definitely feel that a bit of fatigue transferred back to me so that worked. No outlandish pain or anything like that." Naruto said.

"Whoooo." Tenten called out. "You should write up another one on paper and have Jiraiya-sama check it over to see if it is ready for further testing." Naruto said. Tenten just nodded and rushed back to her office to do exactly that.

Naruto chuckled a bit and hoped that Shikamaru would be volunteered to test it for real. He knew it would work, he just really didn't want to be a guinea pig again. Thinking about it, he was always the guinea pig.

Naruto gave it about fifteen minutes before he poked his head in Tenten's office and asked her if she almost had it ready. "Yeah, maybe five more minutes." She replied. Naruto just nodded and headed upstairs to talk to Teacher.

"Hey Teacher, Tenten-chan almost has her new seal to run by Jiraiya-sama." Naruto said before he came into the front office. Sitting there, Teacher was talking to Jiraiya who was drinking a cup of coffee and leaning against the wall.

"Ah Jiraiya-sama, good timing." Naruto commented after seeing him. "I have been known for that, yes. What did you need Naruto?" Jiraiya asked. "Tenten-chan is finishing up a seal that would add recovery effects to resistance seals that would speed up how fast a person would recover from training and promote better muscle growth." Naruto explained.

"Really? Well shit, if it works, well, I would say you could potentially break a record for fastest S-rank mission out of the academy during peace times. Me and Tsunade worked on something similar back in the day. We never completed it but I think what we were coming up with was, well, way too advance even for me." Jiraiya commented.

"Well if it works it should be A-rank at least. Depends on how much she is expecting it to affect. If say, a five percent bonus to how much a person can train and recover from, that would be at least A-rank. Now if you push around fifteen to twenty percent, I would label it as S-rank myself." Jiraiya said.

"I think she told me ten but it also adds up on how much a person can train in a day as well as how fast they would recover after. Fifteen total could be right." Naruto thought out loud. "Well I hope so, you need a long term test though. At least three or four months and have a before and after comparison. Have fun with that." Jiraiya said offhandedly. "I'm going to go see this seal for myself." He said a moment later and headed downstairs.

"Ten to fifteen percent huh. How did the clone test go?" Teacher asked after Jiraiya left. "She worked the clone into the ground for two hours and had it rest for one. I felt barely any fatigue and barely any pain. I would say good to go for a person to test it." Naruto replied.

"Good, hope you are ready for that, probably going to be you testing it." Teacher said. Naruto sighed and nodded. They both chatted a little more before a loud and booming voice silenced them both. "Good afternoon Shoko-chan." Came the yell from the door.

"That time already Gai?" She asked Gai as he came in. "Indeed it is, I also need a new seal put together for my apprentice." He said as he pat Lee on the head. "Yosh, I am ready Gai-sensei." He shouted. Teacher sighed and waved them back to the meeting room.

"His weights are maxed out right?" She asked as they made it into the room. "Yes Shoko-san. I reached the limit and am ready to go beyond just like Gai-sensei." He said rather loudly. Naruto was watching everything with confused looks left and right.

He was further confused when he saw Teacher pull out a bottle of ink and quickly draw a large seal on the table. He watched her fly through the seal and realized it was a strengthening seal. "Naruto, come activate this with as much chakra as you can." She said when she was done. "What do you mean as much chakra as I can?" He asked.

"As much as you can without feeling light headed." She said. He just stared at her for a moment before she started making motions for him to hurry up. He sighed after a moment and went ahead and dumped most of his chakra into the seal. It activated and Teacher gave it a few solid hits with her fist and nodded before motioning Gai and Lee to the table.

Gai needed no instruction and pulled his leg warmers up revealing sets of weights. He set them on the table and Naruto instantly sees the seal on it light up a bit. "How much do those things weigh?" He exclaimed. "Currently, they are one hundred and fifty pounds each." Gai said proudly.

"No way, that seal could hold over a ton easy and you are putting actual stress on them." Naruto said, still amazed. "Uhh, Naruto, there are seven weights on each band. He meant that each single weight weighed one hundred and fifty pounds." Teacher explained.

"No way. How the hell haven't your bones shattered under that force?" Naruto asked. "Because I use them properly and to their fullest extent." Gai said with a smile. "His bones have naturally strengthened over the years. Probably made of steel by now." Teacher explained once more.

Naruto watched as Teacher carefully pulled each weight out of the leg band and started by dispelling each seal written on them. She then quickly rewrote them and added chakra back to them. "There, each one is set to one fifty five now, a small pulse of chakra and it will bump up to one sixty, a final one will put it at one sixty five. Come back when you need them turned up again." She said before turning to Lee.

Lee nodded and removed his leg weights as well. "How much are yours at?" Naruto asked cautiously. "Ah I just maxed out the standard weights I got in the academy so two hundred and fifty pounds a leg." Lee said, slightly embarrassed and being so far behind his sensei.

"Damn, I have had mine at fifty pounds a leg and arm for too long, if I knew it would have been possible to get to two fifty each, I would have done it by now." Naruto said, glancing down at his own weights. He had resistance seals as well as gravity seals that probably put the total resistance on his body close to four hundred pounds at least, but he knew he could have done more.

"Hey Teacher, Jiraiya-sama approved the seal." Tenten said as he rounded the corner. "Ah sorry, didn't mean to interrupt Gai-sensei." She quickly apologized. "No need to apologize Tenten-chan. We were just having Shoko-chan upgrade our weights." Gai said in reply.

"Have you considered resistance seals yet Gai-sensei?" Tenten asked. "I have, however, I do not think they would do much for me. In my age, I am approaching the peak of physical conditioning." Gai explained.

"What are resistance seals Gai-sensei?" Lee asked quickly after he finished. "Ah Lee, resistance seals are seals that would place your body under constant pressure that would make you feel like you are walking through water. Truly a superb training method. Do you think you would be able to give Lee resistance seals Shoko-chan?" Gai asked kindly.

Teacher thought about it for a moment and looked to Tenten, and then to Jiraiya. Jiraiya grinned widely and nodded. "Actually, Tenten had just made a new upgraded resistance seal. Jiraiya-sama just approved testing of it and we are looking for a volunteer. It would boast increased muscle repair as well as keeping your muscles from becoming sore too fast, allowing for longer training sessions." Teacher said.

Lee's face lit up and he turned to Gai, practically begging him to let him try the seals. Gai thought about it for a full minute while Teacher finished putting the seals on Lee's weights. "Well, if Lee wants to try them, I will not object." Gai said and was quickly grabbed into a hug by Lee. "Yosh Gai-sensei. Tenten-chan, can you put the seals on me now?" He said as he quickly rushed to stand in front of Tenten.

"Uhh, sure. Should only take about twenty minutes or so." Tenten said as she led Lee downstairs to her office. "Uhh, Lee realized that he was going to have to be naked for her to write the seal on him right?" Naruto asked after a moment.

No one said anything and waited to see if they could hear any shouts from downstairs. Not hearing anything after a few minutes they returned to their own conversations and relaxed while they waited.

Twenty minutes later, a beet red Lee came back along with Tenten. "How do the seals feel Lee?" Teacher asked. "It is certainly an unfamiliar feeling. Similar to walking through water. It also feels like I am training just by walking normally. It must be one of the most efficient ways to train." Lee proclaimed.

"Good, glad you like them. I am going to go with you guys for about a week of training to make sure nothing goes wrong, after that, I just ask you write any adverse effects and how much you feel it helps your training for the next few months." Tenten explained.

"Yes, a most wonderful idea Tenten-chan. We will start right away with ten quick laps around the village." Gai shouted as he took off out of the building. Tenten glanced at Teacher who nodded and she quickly caught up with them. "Well she is going to have fun." Naruto said dryly. Everyone else just laughed.

"Anyway, our favorite tai-jutsu experts aside, what have you been working on Naruto?" Jiraiya asked. Naruto just pulled out a seal and handed it to him. "Hmm, is this copying magnet release?" Jiraiya asked, taking a closer look. Naruto just nodded.

"Well it looks like it would make a barrier out of it, how strong is it?" Jiraiya asked. "Strong enough to block several thrown kunai or shuriken on one charge, afterward though, it would need either a seal to convert chakra to lightning chakra or a high lightning affinity." Naruto explained.

"What about the earth chakra?" Jiraiya asked. "Well, I have a decent earth affinity so am able to refill that half myself." Naruto said. "The seal holds both elements separate and gets the correct balance every time right?" Jiraiya asked once more, starting to understand his seal.

"Yeah, that is the only real limiting factor, if I try to add more so it does it all at once, I could potentially have a reusable seal. I can't figure out how to do all that at once though. I thought about sending it to R&D and get their opinion on it. If they came up with a better use of it, I could modify it to meet those parameters instead of guessing what would be best." Naruto pitched.

"Following in my footsteps more and more. Let the tech nerds find a better use of your seal so you can work on something else. Brilliant." Jiraiya exclaimed. Naruto sighed slightly, that wasn't why he wanted to send the tag to R&D. "I guess I better run a few of them to them now. No sense putting it off." Naruto said. He paused a moment later.

"Where is R&D at?" He asked. "Don't worry about it Naruto. I'll run it out to them. Need to get going anyway, about time to get some research of my own done anyway." Jiraiya said with a perverted giggle. He took the small stack of tags Naruto offered him and walked out the door. "I suppose we will start training in a week. Meet me at the south gate first thing then." He called out before he closed the door.

"Well damn, there goes my project out the door." Naruto said. "Well, pick up a new project. No sense waiting for the results. R&D crew are professionals. If they see potential with your seal, they will get back to you soon. Until then, just go decide on something new. I need to get the paperwork rolling for Tenten's seal she made. Ongoing tests still get paid after all." Teacher explained, shooing Naruto back downstairs.

Naruto nodded with a chuckle and headed back down. He decided to let Shikamaru know they started training in a week. Shikamaru didn't mind too much, his seal was all but complete anyway.

'What else could I work on. Teacher was right, in a relaxed environment like this, we are practically chunin already.' Of course, they would need to continue their physical training as well as everything else before they actually got promoted. He would give Lee a few days to see if the seals Tenten made were good to go and then get them himself.

Other than that, he just started flipping through his mother's journal again and tried to find a new seal that jumped out at him. It only took up half his focus however, he still had to think about training with the Kyuubi's chakra. One week until the day.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

"Don't be so nervous Naruto-kun." Tenten tried to encourage. "Yeah, it won't be that big of a deal." Shikamaru chimed in. "I know guys, it's just, well, you haven't felt just how powerful Kyuubi-dono is. It is a terrifying concept to try and use that much power." Naruto tried to argue.

Their conversation got cut short when three men dropped in front of them. "Good morning everyone. I hope you are ready for the fun." Jiraiya announced. "Good morning Jiraiya-sama." The kids said. "This here is Shisui Uchiha, current standing leader of the Uchiha clan. And this is Tenzo, resident expert on bijuu related affairs." Jiraiya announced.

"How are you an expert?" Naruto asked. Tenzo went to say something but Jiraiya cut in. "He can use wood release. It was wood release that managed to stop the Kyuubi the first time around so he should be able to help suppress you if something goes wrong." He said.

"If." Naruto said quietly. "So how are we doing this?" He asked a moment later. "Well, first I am going to teach you all how to make a barrier that will be able to stop a raging jinchuriki when we get a bit away from the village. After we get that worked out, we will set up the barrier so that Tenten and Shikamaru are the primary anchors of it. I will be ready to step in if the barrier weakens. Tenzo will be inside the barrier with me and Shisui in an effort to ease you into it." Jiraiya explained.

"All right, let's learn this barrier." Tenten said, trying to get Naruto to ease up. "The barrier is a lot simpler that you would think. It is a four point pyramid barrier that requires four points of focus at once. One point of focus to each anchor point to your left and right, one inward, and one last to connect a wall that protects you to the main barrier. It requires two people for that reason." Jiraiya started.

"What you need to get from focusing inward is drawing the demonic energy toward you and it gets pulled into the barrier, further strengthening it. The main difficulty is matching your partners chakra flow and ensuring that you each try to pull the same amount. Too much, and one side could blow out. The seals you need are here, you also need to have this seal held in your hand and this one in your other. This seal will be aimed over your head, the other directly forward." Jiraiya continued.

"The one over your head will project the barrier in front of you so you aren't directly in the action. You need the one in front of you against that front shield, this is where you pull the chakra into. It looks something like this." Jiraiya finished as he made a clone to display the barrier.

It wasn't the largest barrier, but it could definitely do what was advertised. It wasn't built to subdue a fully transformed bijuu, only a rampaging jinchuriki. They all finished watching the demonstration and got the application of it started.

It took around an hour to have the barrier sturdy enough for Jiraiya to sit Naruto down in front of it and go over the notes he had of how to tap into the demonic chakra. The only advice he really had was to either draw on his chakra as deep as he could go until he reached the foxes chakra or exhaust his own until the foxes chakra was all that was left. He decided to try the first idea first and then the second if it didn't work.

He took a meditative stance in the middle of the barrier and started to channel his chakra smoothly and tried to feel for demonic chakra. He slowly fell into a trance and found himself in his mind scape after a few moments. He quickly found his way to the Kyuubi's room and sat in the chair that had been there for years.

"Well hello Kyuubi-dono." Naruto said politely. "Hello boy, what brings you this far into your mind?" The Kyuubi asked. "Jiji said it was about time I learned how to use your chakra so Jiraiya-sama and a few others are trying to help me learn how to. Any idea how it is supposed to work?" Naruto asked.

Kyuubi was trying to read Naruto to see what he was thinking. He was thinking exactly as he meant so Kyuubi replied. "I have said you should have no problems with it. Just feel the trickle of my chakra and pull on it. It should be located on your stomach, aim there." He explained.

"Thank you for your help Kyuubi-dono. I will try to return later if I get it figured out." Naruto said with a small bow. Kyuubi nodded and closed his eyes to rest once more. He wouldn't feel any pull on his chakra the boy could do after all.

Back inside the barrier, Naruto just came back to. He kept his breathing even and felt for that small sliver of chakra near his stomach the Kyuubi had mentioned. He felt it after only a moment of searching and began to pull on it slowly. He felt a small tickling feeling spreading from his stomach after about a minute and paid it no mind. There was no pain or discomfort so he kept pulling, a little more this time.

Naruto pulled for another minute before he was starting to get confused. He pulled harder and harder, he could feel he was getting stronger, the chakra in his system was much denser than before, but he was supposed to feel some form of burn or extra anger or something wasn't he?

Almost three minutes had passed and he wasn't sure if he was even doing it any more. He would swear up and down when he stopped trying that he felt something but nothing was happening. He became even more confused when he suddenly felt a firm hand grab his head and slam him backwards into the ground.

He opened his eyes after a few moments and let his vision stop swimming. Naruto managed to turn and look at Jiraiya who had slammed him into the ground. "Why did you slam me into the ground like that Jiraiya-sama?" Naruto asked.

Jiraiya appeared to be completely shocked. "What do you mean why? You had four tails worth of chakra built up. You started to transform." Jiraiya said firmly. "Really? I wasn't even sure I had pulled any chakra out at all. Four tails, what does that mean?" Naruto asked.

"Kushina had said that the one time she got to four tails she transformed and completely lost control. She said the more tails, the more chakra, the more chakra, the on edge she felt. You are telling me that you didn't feel any of that?" Jiraiya asked, completely baffled.

"I felt a slight tickle about maybe a minute or so after I came out of my mind scape. Other than that, maybe felt a little warmer than usual. I could definitely feel that my chakra was stronger but didn't think I was that far along because there was no other side effects." Naruto explained.

"Do it again." Jiraiya commanded. Naruto just nodded and decided to do it without sitting down this time. He focused on his his stomach and once more pulled on the chakra. He didn't hold back and really pulled on it this time.

He kept that up for around thirty seconds before he began to feel discomfort. The urge to stretch out all of his muscles. He unconsciously rolled his shoulders and flexed his fingers. He was starting to feel just basic pain and opened his eyes to see what was going on.

He looked at his hands to see them completely dark red with chakra. He flexed his fingers once more and noticed they felt rather clumsy. He frowned a bit at that. "How do you feel?" Jiraiya asked cautiously. "A little sore, maybe a bit clumsy, otherwise fine. Should I keep going?" Naruto asked calmly, although rather demonically.

Jiraiya thought about it and nodded. Naruto nodded back and started to pull a bit more. It was coming easier and easier in the small amount of time he was messing with it. He quickly got to five tails and he could actually feel the tails and noticed he could manipulate them to an extent.

He could feel that same feeling of needing to move his body and work out some soreness. He went with his feelings again and rolled his shoulders once more. He could feel immense power building up inside him and felt like he was at least a dozen times stronger. There was also a feeling like he was heavier than normal.

He rolled his neck from left to right and felt his chest tighten. The pain started following shortly after and he yelled. Arching his back, he let out an absolutely feral yell and snapped forward on all fours. He could see bones had appeared over his forearms and could see what appeared to be a skull wrapped around his head.

He saw Jiraiya pull out another seal but he put his hand up in a sign that he was in control. "What are you feeling?" Jiraiya asked. "Pain, a lot of it. Also feel a ton of power. I feel heavy though. I doubt I would be fast like this." Naruto said, voice slightly distorted but otherwise calm.

"Try to release the transformation." Jiraiya suggested. Naruto blinked at him for a moment. He wasn't exactly sure how to do that. He went with his first guess and tried pushing that chakra back into the seal. He could feel the seal start to accept the chakra and felt himself slowly getting weaker.

The transformation broke after a few seconds of concentrating and slowly pushed the previous transformation down as well. An extra few seconds and he fully pushed the chakra down. He breathed out heavily and recomposed himself after a few seconds.

"Well that went perfectly fine Jiraiya-sama." Shisui said after a few seconds. "Indeed. It looked like second nature to me on the second attempt." He replied. "It was a lot simpler than I assumed. Kyuubi-dono did say that it would be." Naruto said after a moment of catching his breath.

"So, how do you feel?" Jiraiya asked. "Maybe a little tired, nothing worse than how tired I would be after a good workout. I could probably do it again in a minute or two. Don't know how I feel about it though. I feel like I would be slower with hand seals and be unable to write seals. Also feel like I would be slower in general. Not sure when the transformation would be useful." Naruto described.

"Well, Kushina healed almost instantly in that form from what the reports said. Aside from that, if you do use a jutsu, it would be magnified by quite a bit based off how much chakra you were pumping out. A full transformation might be unwieldy but you could still pull a bit of the chakra into jutsu. I wouldn't do it with anything other than your strongest affinity however." Jiraiya said.

"Really? How much was I pumping out?" Naruto asked after he thought on Jiraiya's words for a moment. Jiraiya thought about it for a moment and decided to just push his chakra almost as far as it would go. Naruto paled instantly. "That much?" He asked. "Yup, pretty much. Like I said, a ton." Jiraiya said.

Naruto was slightly in shock at that. He had never felt chakra pressure like that and Jiraiya said he had done it. It was quite unbelievable. "I shouldn't need to tell you but you will need to practice this. Just, be sure you are not in the village when you do it. I shouldn't need to tell you why." Jiraiya said.

'The villagers would lose it.' Naruto thought grimly. "How are we supposed to be able to hold that back?" Shikamaru asked when the conversations died down. "That barrier is designed to hold back that much chakra. If it was any weaker, it wouldn't work as well. Don't worry about it." Jiraiya said, brushing it off.

"Not that simple." Tenten muttered. "Anyway, you did good kid. This much effort to make sure you didn't flip out was completely wasted. I think you handled it perfectly. Sarutobi-sensei wanted me to loosen the seal a bit more if you were acclimated as well as we thought. I will do that in a day so you can rest. Take the rest of the day off. Well, should still probably find at least Shisui the next time you train. We are off to report to Sarutobi-sensei." Jiraiya said as he turned to Shisui and Tenzo and they all vanished.

"Damn that hurt like hell. I'm going straight to the hot spring. What are you guys going to do?" Naruto said, stretching his limbs out again. "Sure." They both said, still a little out of it seeing that much power and seeing Naruto act completely natural after.

They walked back to the village rather slowly. Tenten and Shikamaru were dragging their feet a little and Naruto was fine with that. "You guys aren't afraid of me are you?" Naruto said suddenly. "No, just, surprised, I suppose." Shikamaru said slowly.

"What were you expecting?" Naruto asked. "Maybe, less?" Tenten added. "Sorry, I guess I didn't consider that. You guy's haven't really felt it I suppose. What Jiraiya pumped out was still nothing compared to what Kyuubi-dono is capable of. I would assume that being at six tails, I got to that second big transformation and jumped in power I guess if I got to all nine tails, I would probably transform again and make another huge jump." Naruto said slowly, still thinking about it as he talked.

"More than likely. Do you think your body would be able to handle that though?" Shikamaru asked. "Well, Jiraiya-sama thought I would turn into a rage beast or something when I got to the first transformation. I didn't really feel too much, a few aches and pains but nothing like constant rage." Naruto started explaining.

"The second transformation was just pain. No real anger. Maybe a little, not sure how to describe it, antsy? Sitting still ached bad, really bad. Constant burning was also rather annoying. I can't imagine any more tails would be easier so it will take quite a long time to adjust to go further." Naruto finished.

"Just, don't over do it and hurt yourself." Tenten said softly. "I know, I don't think I will need it too terribly much. In standard combat, it would slow me down and make jutsu harder. I think only in large scale shinobi battles would it be useful. Even against hundreds of bandits I wouldn't need it." Naruto said.

"Ok, I get it. We still need you to train it. It can be a good ace in the hole, but it does you no good if it isn't sharpened properly." Tenten said. "Yeah." Naruto said before they turned to the gate. "Took your time getting back eh?" Kotetsu shouted.

"Yeah, trained too hard." Naruto said with a chuckle. "Well, it was your first time out of the village right? We need you to sign in. Name here, bloody thumbprint here, and swipe this seal with chakra and you can head in." Izumo explained.

"Is this all you guys do all day?" Shikamaru asked as he waited to sign in himself. "Pretty much." Kotetsu said blandly. "Hey, it is an important job. Besides, if we didn't do it, who would?" Izumo said. Kotetsu just shrugged.

"Two people is all we have on the main gate?" Tenten said as she realized no one else was sitting in the booth. "Well there are several people that walk the wall and a few anbu squads in quick response range." Kotetsu said, looking up the wall with a look of longing.

"The wall sounds nice. I am guessing it is a rotation. Only chunin or can genin get put up there as well?" Shikamaru asked. "I think they have a quota system set. Everyone has to protect the gates about seven days every three months or so. Gate itself is at least chunin. I think they still put genin on top." Kotetsu said.

"I recommend volunteering whenever you got the days to burn. They seem to count volunteer days more than days you get dragged to it. It also pays a lot more than you would think." Izumo said with a grin.

"Did you guys volunteer?" Naruto asked. "I did, he didn't. Worth it though, I rather enjoy this position. Pushed us to rather comfy jobs overall. Sitting at the gate gives a ton of diplomacy experience. I managed to snag an ambassador contract a year ago. Got me my promotion to special jonin and everything." Izumo bragged.

"Ambassador huh? That sounds rather nice." Shikamaru said lazily. "We better actually get in the village, we wasted enough of their time." Tenten said. "No problem guys. More than a quick conversation is nice from time to time." Kotetsu said with a tired wave.

"They seem rather nice. Wouldn't mind doing wall duty if more people are like that." Naruto said as they made their way home. "Yeah, might as well put our names in the volunteer bin someday. Maybe if we find a slow week or something." Shikamaru suggested.

"You really like the prospect of wall duty huh?" Tenten asked. "Yup." Shikamaru said like it was obvious. "Pace a wall, watch interesting people enter the village. Long hours of little physical work with good pay? Sign me up." He said.

"Let's just hurry up and get home. If we got a day off, I would like to get some shopping done." Naruto said with a chuckle as he picked up the pace to get home. He could already feel his fatigue fading away but a dip in the hot spring would be welcomed anyway.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

 **Well that is a wrap. Going to go straight into what will be one of the biggest turn offs for the story, the Kyuubi.**

 **I can imagine some people saying things like, 'The Kyuubi is too cooperative.' 'Naruto got too much power too fast.' 'That's not how it works in canon.' Simple thing is, I know.**

 **I know that is not how easy it was in canon, I also have the opinion that Naruto was very poorly trained in canon. Tree walking after he graduated is just sad. My Naruto is far stronger and has a lot more going for him.**

 **The people that will say the Kyuubi is being too cooperative. The Kyuubi is not a rage beast in my story. He has 100% of his power, no splitting it in half crap like in canon. He is not the embodiment of rage and hatred though.**

 **Kyuubi is more akin to living pride and curiosity. Without spoilers, he very generically sees Naruto as his current physical representation of himself in the world. Why would a prideful demon hamper his physical representation and inevitably make him look weaker?**

 **For people saying Naruto is getting too much power too fast. He got to six tails, second transformation. With that transformation, he is much stronger, yes. He is also completely different. I said early that he modeled his training after Itachi.**

 **That being, fast, deadly, and with minimal expenditures. Turning into a glowing skeletal fox and ripping trees out of the ground is not how he has trained. I also had him mention he thought he would be slow with hand seals and probably slow overall. It will not be his main method of battle if I didn't stress that enough in the story.**

 **For the last one, that's not how it happened in canon. I usually ignore those types of comments. If you do not understand that you are reading a fanfiction and it is not supposed to be canon, then I usually assume you didn't read my story for something different.**

 **That rant over, I hope you liked the chapter. I put up a new story if anyone was curious. It follows Lee instead of Naruto and is more of a fun request I am fulfilling instead of a super serious story. The chapters in it are going to be super short so shouldn't take any writing time away from other projects.**


	21. Chapter 21

*****Super depressing I need to add this... Adding this to chapter one and twenty one for now but this story is not a romance... Have zero idea where everyone got the notion that this was only a romance... Tags clearly say, Friendship/Adventure... Now will there be any romance? Yes, there will be... Are you going to see a bunch of children who were raised into killing machines fucking like rabbits? No, no you are not... Swear I get a headache every time I get a message or review bitching that, 'Oh the story is so slow paced and stale, where are the lemons, the romance needs to hurry up, how many girls will Naruto end up with?' All of these have nothing to do with what I have written so far... The best part? I don't think I have gotten a single one of them reviews by someone I could reply to... Brilliant... You rage quit my story because Tenten isn't being fucked at age 8? Probably need to check yourself into some kind of mental institute...*****

 **Hey welcome back. A lot less people were worried about the Kyuubi that I had thought. Before we get into it, I need to point out the one thing everyone seemed to forget. And by everyone I even mean myself… Don't know where but I completely ruined my notes at some point.**

 **Anyway, Naruto is currently 14 years old, (I think I swapped his and Tenten's ages in my head somewhere. Tenten being closer to 15 currently.) Still, he is a full year older than he was in canon. That being said, he has had that full extra year to mature, train, and understand more advanced forms of being a shinobi.**

 **Not going to get into how much stronger he is because of that extra year, but it needed to be pointed out because a few people understood the story a bit better when they remembered he was a bit older. Anyway, let's just get into Chapter 21 of Trust By My Side.**

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Their day off came and went. Naruto and Tenten had got some shopping done after leaving their hot spring and spent a little while longer just talking with Shikamaru. The seal Tenten put on Lee showed no adverse side effects and Lee was excited by how he felt at the end of each day.

Naruto was happy to hear that and had Tenten put the seals on him as well. She agreed but told him to write the seals on her as well. He also agreed and they quickly grabbed Shikamaru before he slipped away. "You are getting the seal too Shika." Naruto said firmly. "Troublesome." He sighed as he went and sat on the couch inside.

It took about an hour total but they all agreed that the seals felt a lot better than their previous seals. The little bit of ease put on the muscles at all times would certainly add up over the years. They went ahead and sparred for most of the day and while they rested, they could tell that they were most likely not going to be sore come morning.

They made their way into their headquarters and Naruto was quickly stopped by Teacher. "Naruto, you got mail." She said before she tossed him a decent sized box. Naruto quirked his head a bit at this and went into the meeting room and opened it.

Inside was a scroll and an anbu styled flack jacket. 'Naruto Uzumaki. The seals you provided us are indeed interesting. We want you to permanently mark the flack jacket included with the seal in addition to storage for at least three bursts before it would need recharged. Recharging would be recommended in the form of a separate seal to become standard issue for anbu. Please complete this within three days and have the result sent to us as soon as possible. R&D Team.' The scroll read.

"Well that would definitely work. Hey Teacher, do you know what average payment from R&D is?" Naruto asked. Teacher rounded the corner and saw him with an anbu flack jacket and grinned. "Well, if you make the final product, you receive a percentage of the cost to make them. So it could be nothing or maybe a sum for a mission payment depending on the rank it is deemed. Considering it looks like you are dealing directly with anbu, could be A-rank." Teacher explained.

"Sweet, well I got my project for the day." Naruto said as he rushed downstairs to get to work. "Cool, what do you got for us Teacher." Tenten asked. "I got a few things for you to sign Tenten and are you done with your transport seals yet Shikamaru?" Teacher said. Shikamaru just nodded.

"Good, I'll check them and you can deliver them to your dad and get his opinion on how we wants to go about testing them." Teacher commanded. "I already did. He said if they get a go ahead from you or Jiraiya-sama then they can go down to communications for a few test runs." Shikamaru replied.

"Good, show me how they work while I get Tenten started on this paperwork." Teacher said, turning to Tenten. "This is mostly just forms regarding an ongoing research trial. Your enhanced resistance seals to be specific. Fill it out and get it to Hokage-sama as soon as you can. It will get a small payment going as well as get the information trickling down the ranks so any other interested parties can get the seals themselves." Teacher explained.

Shikamaru returned as Tenten turned to go down to her office to get started. "Ok, what makes your seal stand out?" Teacher asked. "It has a buffer set so it will add extra security when sending important information or confidential documents long distance." Shikamaru said as he placed one seal down on the desk and took a few steps back. He placed a kunai down on the seal in his hand and activated it.

Teacher saw the kunai disappear and saw a small symbol in the center of the seal he handed her light up dimly. He waved for her to try and unseal the kunai but nothing happened. Shikamaru then walked over and activated it and the kunai appeared.

"The receiving end is chakra specific for either heads of departments or the hokage himself. Once the item is sent, only the receiving person can get the item from either end. This way, if someone is captured after sending important documents, there is no way for the enemy to retrieve them." Shikamaru explained.

"What about the sending side?" Teacher asked. "Similar, they are set to only accept items from specific people. Would do no good if someone with one of these seals was captured and an enemy send a paper bomb to Hokage-sama." Shikamaru explained.

"What about the symbol that glows?" Teacher asked. "It is a detection seal. Watch." Shikamaru said as he pulled out a small explosive tag. One that would barely break a lock. He activated it and send it with his side of the seal. The symbol was glowing red for a few seconds before it turned blue. He casually went over and unsealed a no longer glowing explosive note.

"So it drains chakra of whatever is inside it?" Teacher asked. "Yup, that was the hardest part to figure out." Shikamaru explained. "That part is also only available on the receiving end so if a fuin-jutsu master got a hold of it they wouldn't be able to bypass it." He further explained.

"Well I have to say, that is quite detailed. They only problem I can see is that you wouldn't be able to send storage seals. They would also be drained." Teacher said. "Yes, but the increased safety of it falling into enemy hands is worth it. Down the line I could probably tweak it to be very chakra sensitive, maybe a pulse password or something but until then, I didn't want to leave it open for unnecessary risks." Shikamaru explained.

"Agreed. I would say it looks perfect otherwise. Since you already got the jonin commanders go ahead, take it to Hokage-sama and give him the same demonstration. Well, maybe use a flash seal not an explosive note, might get yourself knocked out by anbu if you activate an explosive note in Hokage-sama's office." Teacher said.

Shikamaru thought about it for a second and nodded before walking out to do just that. Downstairs with Naruto, he was making quick work of modifying his seal to work on an anbu flack jacket. He had far more room to work with as opposed to a small seal. He managed to work a chakra wrap around the seal that would hold six charges as opposed to three.

He had the wrap end around the stomach and had a small accepting seal tied to it. He quickly made a chakra sending seal that would add three charges worth of lightning and earth chakra. He drained the chakra in the jacket by using the seal six times and placed the charging tag over its stomach on the outside.

He gave it a push of chakra and felt the chakra flow into the jacket. He tested it four more times and nodded when the first three worked and the fourth one didn't. He quickly made a dozen more of the charging tags with the help of clones and rushed upstairs to talk to Teacher.

"Hey Teacher, I got the R&D request done. I need to go give it a full battle test. I will be back in a bit." He said. Teacher just nodded and waved him out.

Arriving back at his home just a few moments later, he quickly made a sturdy clone and handed him the flack jacket. The clone nodded and put it on and jumped back to the edge of the training area. When Naruto got a second nod, the threw a single kunai at the clone.

The clone just activated the seal when it was about a foot away and the kunai instantly shot off at an odd angle. Naruto nodded and the clone turned sideways. Naruto once more threw a kunai and the same thing occurred. The clone turned it's back to Naruto and once more a single kunai was reflected easily.

Naruto nodded and the clone nodded back. Naruto grabbed two full handfuls of kunai and threw them all at the same time. Eight kunai were all reflected just as easily as a single one. Naruto nodded happily once more. He made a few clones and had them surround the test clone. They all threw eight kunai from every direction and they were all knocked off course.

"This is working perfectly." Naruto said to himself. There were still a few tests he had however. He pulled out eight of his own high quality kunai. He threw them and these ones were only slightly knocked off course. Off course enough to be a success but clone enough to warrant another test.

He pulled his mother's sword and threw it perfectly dead center of the clone. The clone activated the seal but the sword still hit him a few inches from dead center and dispelled the clone. Naruto went to check out the damages and saw that there was about an inch of penetration past the inside of the jacket in the shoulder.

"So the higher the quality of the metal, the less effective." Naruto told himself. "Still, it slowed it down quite a bit." He relented. He made a new clone to wear the jacket after he made sure the seal wasn't damaged.

"Go ahead and use the recharging seal." Naruto called out. The clone nodded and pulled a seal from one of the pockets and applied it recharging three charges. Naruto switched out to senbon as well as shuriken, running through the same tests and all passed.

He decided he might as well test everything he had on him and stuck a shrapnel tag on a small earth pillar he made. He detonated it and the clone instantly activated the seal. All the pellets were slowed down and scattered everywhere around him.

"One last test." Naruto said as he made a large earth dome. Around himself and his clone. He stuck over a dozen shrapnel seals on the inside and quickly left. Once outside, he activated the seals. He didn't feel the rush of new memories so he assumed the clone survived.

Dropping the earth dome, he saw the clone standing just fine. He inspected him and saw nothing wrong with him. Looking over the jacket, there were a few scuffs and a tear or two, but none of the pellets managed to pierce it.

Naruto let out small chuckle and dispelled the clone, grabbing the jacket. He quickly made his way back to their headquarters.

"How did the tests go?" Teacher asked. "Well, anything lower than the highest quality steels I had on me were 100% effective. Even then, my sword was the only thing to cause any damage to the person behind the jacket and even that was maybe an inch or two of penetration to the shoulder." Naruto explained.

"Here, let me see it." Teacher said. Naruto just sat the flack jacket on the desk in front of her. She quickly went over it and saw all the minor scrapes and cuts on it. "What are all these little cuts?" She asked.

"That was fifteen shrapnel seals on the inside of an earth dome. The clone was perfectly fine but it looks like a few of the shrapnel bits managed to only get pushed so far. I am guessing it was the sheer volume of it. Thirty two kunai didn't even get that close." Naruto explained.

"Damn, sounds effective. I am going to go ahead and run this to the boys in R&D. Did you have any notes for them so they can test it?" She asked. "Yup, also had a few clones making more recharge tags. Let me go grab it all." Naruto said as he ran downstairs and grabbed everything before running back up and handing it all off to Teacher.

"Well, I would expect to be ready to write a few more of those up soon. They will probably equip a few squads to run through a combat training exercise to see if they help." Teacher said before she walked out the door. Naruto just smiled and went into the other room and grabbed himself a cup of tea. He would be sitting behind the desk until Teacher returned so might as well be comfortable.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

The month ended and another with it as well. Naruto had gotten the order for eight more anbu flack jackets to be made and was still waiting on the response from them. Shikamaru's transportation seals had been installed in the mission offices so people could send mission reports easier as a test run. A few more weeks and they would be moved out to front line scouting parties.

Tenten's seal she had put all of them and Lee had been a huge success. Lee had to bump his weights up three hundred pounds a leg in only six weeks. Gai said that was much faster than they had anticipated. Naruto and Tenten were both starting to up their weight training as well.

They each got up to sixty pounds a limb and even adjusted their resistance and gravity seals about ten percent. With the new seals, the transition to higher weights wasn't that big a jump like it used to be. They were all just getting into the office and to their desks when Teacher came downstairs.

"Hey, you guys got a mission." She called out. Everyone came back out into the center room and she continued. "Looks like your first B-rank outside the village. How exciting." She said as she flicked the scroll to Shikamaru.

"Missing-nin led bandit group near border of Taki and Kusa. They are sat just inside Hi no Kuni making it our problem. We are just the support to a squad of chunin led by a jonin. They want us to fortify a forward base they are going to build as well as litter the surrounding countryside with traps. I guess that would probably cut the enemy numbers down before a real fight broke out huh." Shikamaru read off.

"Do they have a bio on any of the known missing-nin?" Tenten asked. "There were three spotted with up to two more suspected. The three known were from Iwa, low chunin. All seem to be adept earth jutsu users at best. Nothing really stand out about them from the reports." Shikamaru replied.

"How long do they need us out there?" Naruto asked. "Well, I would guess it should take us around three days to get there comfortably. Probably a full day or two for them to fully build a complete forward base, another day to fortify it. Then we are asked to spend a week up there as immediate support as well as littering area with traps around the base as well as surrounding area they are estimated to be." Shikamaru said as he closed the scroll.

"So a little over two weeks. That isn't bad I would say." Naruto replied. "Since this is your first big mission, I would recommend taking a damn good amount of supplies with you. Extra ink, tags, scrolls, as well as a ton of good to go seals ready ahead of time. You will probably have time to write more there, but take enough to complete a good part of the mission with you." Teacher said seriously.

"Teacher, I carry a minimum of three hundred ready to go explosive notes of different types at all times." Naruto said with a chuckle. "Good. Never lose that habit honestly. Scroll said be at west gate in two hours. Get your supplies and head out." Teacher commanded. All three nodded and ran into their offices. Teacher just nodded with a smile.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Two hours later they were on the road. The mission was lead by Asuma Sarutobi and there were three other chunin with them as well. Rei, Chowei and Iniri were their names. Gen-jutsu, tai-jutsu and nin-jutsu specialists respectively.

"Oi, you kids can go faster than this right?" Asuma called out. "Of course taicho." They all three called back as they started to pick up the pace. Asuma didn't exactly hold a grudge on them using him for the graduation guinea pig. That didn't mean he wouldn't push them for no real reason though.

They made good distance in the first day, nearly half of it, before Asuma called for them to rest. "All right, you three, take first watch. Wake Chowei up in two hours. Chowei, wake up Iniri, Iniri wake me up, I will take the last shift. Rei get's the full night sleep tonight and tomorrow the kids will." He commanded as he threw up his own quick tent.

Naruto Tenten and Shikamaru watched him set it up with a bit of curiosity but said nothing. "Hey Asuma-taicho, can we just throw up an earth tent?" Naruto asked. "We are far enough in Hi no Kuni, sure, go for it. Just take it down smooth enough to be unnoticeable in the morning." He said, not really caring one way or the other.

Naruto nodded and flipped through the hand seals for an earth wall and two walls came in at an angle and met at the top forming a simple tent. He slammed his hand down on the ground after and the interior smoothed out.

He nodded and walked away to start his watch. Tenten and Shikamaru doing the same. Asuma just chuckled, they were going to be eaten alive by bugs in the night.

Naruto had made a few clones to tighten up their watch of the surrounding area a bit. It was all unneeded as nothing happened through the night however. They waited out their two hours and then woke Chowei and walked to their own tent. They unsealed a large futon that fit in the tent perfectly before placing seals on the corners of the tent and one on each wall. An all but invisible barrier appeared and they all laid down for the night.

They were woken up a few hours later by Asuma shouting to get everyone up. They all quickly hopped on top of the futon and Naruto resealed it while Tenten pulled the seals off one side of the tent and Shikamaru got the other side.

Once everything was clear, Naruto pushed the walls back into the ground and sent a random push of chakra into the ground to make it uneven once more. The whole thing took about ten seconds. "What was that barrier on the edge of your tent and why did you bring a futon instead of a sleeping bag?" Asuma asked.

"The barrier kept bugs as well as chakra out. The futon is more comfortable than sleeping bags and is easier to get out of in case of emergency." Naruto explained. Asuma just stared at him like he grew a second head and dropped it.

The broke camp in just over a minute total and continued on at a quick pace. They made it within a few hours of where they were to build their forward base and set up camp once more. This time, Naruto, Tenten and Shikamaru got a full nights sleep and Rei took their first shift.

They made it to the location they would set up their forward base a bit before midday and quickly started throwing together what would end up being a glorified bunker that they would use for the next few weeks until the mission was completed.

It started with Iniri dropping the level of the ground a few feet and evening out the walls. He then rose the walls up a few feet around it. While he was doing that, Asuma was carefully dropping a few trees in the area around the camp. When Naruto saw this, he offered to help.

He drew up a quick gravity seal that would reduce the weight of whatever he placed it on down to only a few hundred pounds. He slapped it on a tree and Asuma quickly cut through it with wind chakra. As it fell, Naruto easily caught it and held it while Asuma cleared off the branches leaving just a single log.

They started piling them around the outer wall in a log cabin fashion. Shikamaru quickly started tagging every log with a fire resistance seal that would keep them from being destroyed by fire jutsu easily.

While all of this was going on, Tenten was writing seals on the inside of the base. One way silencing seals, hardening seals, chakra resisting seals, as well as a gen-jutsu seal that would make the surrounding area push people away from the bunker.

They only needed to knock down a few trees so the surrounding area wasn't devastated by any means. Once the bunker was deemed secure, Asuma unsealed a few ease of life items like a set of beds, portable stove, as well as a large water supply.

"There we go, this thing is about as secure as we can make it. Anyone nearby will be in a subtle gen-jutsu that will make them walk right past it. No earth jutsu below A-rank should be able to damage the walls. No sensor should be able to sense anyone inside. No noise should escape either." Tenten listed off.

"The outside is also fireproof and shouldn't be moving anywhere any time soon." He supplied. "Good, we will let you rest up a bit while we go and scout the surrounding area and map out where we want trapped." Asuma said as he waved the rest of the group out.

Once they cleared out, Naruto, Tenten and Shikamaru started to lay out what they had with them. "Well I have an absolute ton of directional senbon seals. Most have only two or three steel senbon and the rest are wooden that will survive the initial blast. I also have a gravity trap for the ground. It will activate if someone steps on it pumping the gravity to about five times higher while sticking their feet in place. When they fall forward, wooden spikes will shoot into them from the ground up." Naruto explained.

"I got a few directional spike seals, if someone steps on it, will skewer them with three spikes that should hit their foot as well as hopefully their body. Also got a few decoy simple wire kunai traps that have explosive notes hidden around the wire so if they defuse it, they explode." Tenten listed off.

"I got some flash tags that will blind and then quickly wrap a person in razor wire. If they panic and jump, they will be killed instantly. If they stand still, a few kunai will rain down on them and get them anyway. Other than that, just directional explosive notes and a handful of suction seals that will pull a person's head into a tree that will instantly shove a spike into their head." Shikamaru called out.

"When did you make that one?" Naruto asked. "Few days ago. This is it's first real combat test." Shikamaru answered. "Well sweet." Naruto said as they thought about how to spread their traps as well as how many to actually use.

It was about an hour later that Asuma and his team came back in. They instantly felt something when they opened the door and their kunai came out. "The fuck was that?" Asuma asked instantly. "Anti-gen-jutsu tag. If any of you had been under a gen-jutsu like a henge, it would have shattered as soon as that door opened." Tenten explained.

"Why wasn't that up when we left?" Asuma asked. "In case you or someone else was captured and replaced while on the scouting mission. Our own little bit of self security." Shikamaru said evenly.

"At least you are all professional. All right, here is the map of the surrounding area. We found bandits walking here, here and here. They were all going to the same point here." Asuma started saying as he pointed to various points on the map.

"It looks like this group was returning from the town north just past the border. These ones were dragging their feet, probably returning from a job. And these ones seemed way too happy. Probably just finished something successfully." Asuma continued.

"With all of them going the same way, we can assume that their base is somewhere in this area. We will go with an uneven circle around the suspected area and trap it to hell. We will also put short lines from there in between several possible locations they might go. Towns, roads, anything suspicious." Asuma explained.

"All right. When do we begin?" Shikamaru asked, technically being leader of their squad. "As soon as you are able." Asuma replied. "So now. Ok." He replied, standing up getting the rest of them to stand as well.

"Chowei, watch the base. The rest of us are on escort. Double triangle formation, I'm up front, Rei left, Iniri right. You three can organize yourselves how you like inside." Asuma commanded. Shikamaru just nodded and they fell in line. Naruto in front, Shikamaru on the left, Tenten on the right.

Asuma smirked a bit at that and they took off to their first priority, in between the village closest to Taki. It was only a short run overall. They went a little slow to be sure to watch for traps but still wasn't far away.

"Here, we make a thick line, east north east. Rei, watch middle. I have left, Iniri right. All traps need to be lethal, flashy or not doesn't matter. Once the first trap goes off, they will know there are traps so use as many as possible. Rei, and Iniri, document all traps carefully." Asuma ordered. The kids and chunin all nodded and spread out.

With Naruto in the middle he quickly made three clones and spread them out a little bit, not far, just a few dozen feet or so. He had the third follow him as he made his way to the first clearing he saw. He pointed at the clearing and the clone nodded, quickly running to the center and placing his hand down on the ground.

Naruto himself ran through a few hand seals and pulled a very thin earth wall out at a steep angle. He quickly pushed the wall up, breaking it at the bottom and sealed it away. He then used raw earth manipulation to push the leftover bit of earth back underground leaving no trace it was ever there.

A few hand seals later and the thought out, 'Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu.' and sunk into the ground. A few moments later, he came back out of the ground leaving no trace he was ever there. He left a scroll under the earth where he made the gap with the earth wall. The earth above it was thick enough that it would hold it's own weight and the clone had pulled a few pillar up in between where the seal would be active to add more support before he dispelled himself.

Naruto quickly asked if Rei if she could see any difference, which she could not, and he nodded before jumping over the entire clearing and continuing on. He was slipping seals behind chunks of bark, under branches, and even a few inside holes in trees.

They were all carefully documented and they continued on for nearly two hours. Once the sun started setting, they all carefully met near where they started and made their way back to camp.

Asuma nodded and commended them for their professionalism and skill in trap making and they all gathered around the table to plan out the next day. Tenten and Shikamaru would go from where they were last time and head left around the camp while Naruto went right. They would work it out that way until they got all the way around them.

Once the planning quieted down, Naruto pulled out a very large scroll and unrolled it out on the table. He quickly ran through a few hand seals before calling out, "Uzumaki Fuin-jutsu: Third Eye Jutsu.*" and slamming his hand in the center of the scroll. Tenten and Shikamaru each placed their hands on one end of the seal that appeared and channeled chakra.

Dozens of red, blue and green dots appeared in one general area around the center of the seal. After a moment, they all took their hands away and the dots remained. "What is this doing?" Asuma asked.

"It is showing an estimated location of any tags with our chakra signature within a certain range. With how much chakra I put into it, should be close to three miles." Naruto explained. "I am guess each color is one of you?" Asuma guessed.

"Yup, if one of them gets a black outline, that means the chakra was used. Usually means it was tripped but doesn't mean it got anyone." Naruto explained further. "How accurate is it?" Asuma asked once again.

"Well, it took a hell of a lot of training to get the chakra usage consistent enough. I would say within a twenty feet at least. As for when they get tripped, one hundred percent." Naruto said with pride. Asuma just whistled and nodded.

Everyone else was thoroughly impressed as well. "In that case, one person will be watching this around the clock. If any traps get tripped, we converge on it as fast as possible. Rest until sunup. We move out as soon as possible. Seven days could be too long. If we know when one is tripped, we will be able to move in early." Asuma commanded.

Everyone nodded and instantly the kids went and laid down. Every minute or rest could be huge. It was about ten hours before they would need to head back out. They rested four hours, woke up and remade a good number of the seals they used and then got another four hours of sleep.

They continued their routine for three days before the first trap was sprung. It was a spike trap set by Tenten that got him. Iwa missing-nin estimated at chunin. Got him through the foot and up into his shoulder as well as his hip. He was completely immobilized and bled out within seconds.

Tenten closed her eyes for a few moments and then reopened them at seeing what her trap did to someone. They were on a mission and potentially being watched, now was not the time to worry about her first kill.

Shortly after they made it to the scene a call came out on the radio. "One more sprung, quarter mile west, notes say flash trap." Came the call from Chowei. Shikamaru quickly took point flanked by Asuma as they went to the trap. There stood a heavily bleeding missing nin from Iwa covered in razor wire with his eyes closed.

Shikamaru quickly tossed a kunai at the nin's head but he managed to block it with his eyes shut. "You are all going to die, you hear me?" He shouted before Naruto tossed three of his own kunai at the shinobi.

He tried to block them as well but they were all coated in wind chakra. The kunai sliced right through the one that the Iwa shinobi tried to use to protect himself and quickly cut through his head, neck and heart. Naruto took a deep breath and let it out slowly before nodding to no one.

"Three hundred yards south, two tags, explosive, ground level." Came another call over the radio. They rushed the scene and saw several bodies with missing pieces or filled with senbon. Shikamaru knew they were his tags and looked over them all with his mind racing but made no outward motions.

Asuma was quickly running through what was happening. 'Why is there so much movement all of a sudden. They seem to be returning to base, but why are they so spread out and how did we hit so many shinobi?' He thought. "Tags going off one after the other, they are all coming from directly west towards your position." Came the shout from the radio.

Asuma quickly pulled his trench knives up in time to block the mace that was coming right at him. He took no time to recognize the shinobi that attacked him. "Get out of here." He called but was met with no response. Instead, several kunai, shuriken, senbon, and even a pair of fuma shuriken bombarded the Iwa missing-nin.

He jumped back and dodged all of them but the weapons quickly changed directions and followed him. 'Che' he thought as he swung his mace to shatter the fuma shuriken and knock away several of the kunai.

He kept dodging until he suddenly felt his foot stick to the ground. His eyes widened as he started to go through hand seals. He slammed his hand down and the earth below him instantly cracked and shattered and he managed to jump away. As soon as he landed, he felt his body go stiff. Three kunai quickly landed in a triangle around him and started to glow.

"Barrier Fuin-jutsu: Inner Earth Seal." Came the call from Naruto. The tags wrapped around the kunai glowed briefly and a green tinged, three sided pyramid surrounded the man. He landed beside Asuma who was standing there nearly flabbergasted. "The fuck was that?" He finally asked. "What do you mean Asuma-taicho?" Naruto asked.

"That guy was around jonin level and you tore him apart." Asuma said. "Yeah? And?" Tenten asked, still confused. "Whatever." Asuma finally said. "What are you and your people doing in Hi no Kuni?" Asuma asked.

"Ha, do you really think missing-nin need a reason?" The man shouted. He found his head leaning forward and gently touching the barrier. He started to scream as the started to grind his skin off. "I believe you were asked a question." Shikamaru said.

"Up yours. I have no reason to talk." He said. "Is that right?" Shikamaru asked before Asuma waved him off. "Seal his chakra and bind him. I will come with you back to Konoha and deliver him to T&I myself." Asuma commanded. Naruto just nodded and made a clone inside the barrier. The clone quickly wrote a simple binding seal on the ninja's neck and activating it. He dropped to the ground instantly.

Tenten went over and wrapped a seal around each of his arms and then tied them together behind his back. She activated the seals under the wire when she was done. She also did the same with his legs and his hands.

"There, he can't move, can't mold chakra, and can't even attempt to make hand seals." She said proudly. "Good." Asuma said before he put his hand to his headset. "Chowei, Rei and Iniri, you three will guard the corner where there are no traps. I will send an order for an extra two chunin squads as back up and you will push in and push them through the traps. When they are done, remove any unused traps and evacuate." Asuma ordered.

They all replied their acceptance and Asuma turned to the three genin. "We will take him back to the village now. Return to base, grab your gear. I will meet you there." He said. They all nodded and vanished.

It was only ten minutes before they were all ready to leave. No words were needed as they made top speed back to Konoha. They stopped for the briefest of rest along the way and made it back in two days flat.

"I am going to drop him off at T&I and meet you at the hokage tower. Your mission report will be slightly different than mine. With how this mission looked, a full report is needed." Asuma said getting a nod from all three of them.

Asuma quickly rushed off to T&I while they all made their way to the tower. Asuma caught up to them a few minutes after they arrived and they quickly made their way inside. "Ah, welcome back. How was your first mission outside the walls?" Hiruzen asked.

"The kids did great Pops. They pretty much captured an Iwa missing-nin jonin by themselves." Asuma praised. "Really? My, that is certainly impressive. Is there any other important details that need to be shared in person?" Hiruzen asked.

"Around the fourth day we were there, it felt like there was way more activity than anticipated. We instantly killed two chunin with the traps and probably a dozen bandits. The jonin attacked shortly after. I feel like it is a set up myself." Asuma said.

"You captured him correct? Then Ibiki will found out in no time." Hiruzen said after getting a nod from Asuma. "I would recommend at least two chunin squads as backup until we know what is up. I don't remember that guy being missing-nin for long." Asuma said.

"Hmm, while not common, it is not unheard of to put shinobi in the bingo books as missing-nin to get around treaties. Anyway, good work on your first combat mission you three. Take a day or two to recover before heading back into the fuin-jutsu core headquarters. Expect at least a week until you are called for another mission." Hiruzen said. They all nodded and left their reports on his desk before heading out.

Once they left, Hiruzen turned to Asuma. "Tell me, how well did they do in the mission overall?" He asked. "Pops, if you didn't tell me that it was their first out of the village mission personally, I would have promoted them on the spot. Every order followed perfectly, ingenuity and creativity with trap placement. They even used what I would have to guess is at least jonin level fuin-jutsu from what I would guess." Asuma said evenly.

"Really now? Hmm, well they are still inexperienced enough that it would be too soon to promote them. I will keep that in mind however. C-rank mission may be below them like I had thought." Hiruzen thought out loud.

"Hell, if I ever need a trapper or two on any squad I lead, I am requesting as many of them as I can get. Seals that instantly spike someone to the ground, wrap them in razor wire, fires volleys of senbon. Those were just the simple ones they used." Asuma said, admiration clear in his voice.

"Those kids are up and coming prodigies in the art. You have seen these haven't you?" Hiruzen said as he pulled out a kunai that was quickly shrouded in wind chakra. "Yeah, Naruto used a few of them. Cut right through an Iwa chunin's kunai and killed him instantly. If anyone can use them, they are going to be worth a hell of a lot out there." Asuma said.

"Good, put that in writing and send it to Shikaku. They have been tested extensively for years now but have not been put through a true mission yet. Send him the full fight and how well it worked. Spare no details. I believe this could be a good point to get them used in missions soon." Hiruzen explained.

"Will do Pops. I think that is it. I am going to head out. I could use some real sleep." Asuma said. "Say hello to Kurenai-chan for me." Hiruzen said with a grin. Asuma nearly tripped over himself as he exited. 'I wonder when he will make that info public.' Hiruzen thought.

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 **That is a wrap. Currently being with limited internet, I am getting a ton of writing done. Don't get used it to, I doubt I could keep this pace with distractions in my life.**

 **I put a * in there after a jutsu name. I have absolutely no idea how to go about translating original jutsu without completely making it feel like crap. Hidden Mole jutsu has a translation so I used that but otherwise, I am not sure how I want to proceed.**

 **If anyone wants to PM me a fair way to go about it, I would appreciate it. I think after this chapter I would go with the english translation I like the most for jutsu aside from things like Henge. I am completely unsure how I want to do that.**


	22. Chapter 22

**Welcome back everyone. As usual, chapter is far later than I would have liked. Been working on a massive one shot that ate up a lot of my motivation. Managed to completely get myself stuck in it so am finally back here.**

 **Hopefully I can round out that one shot relatively soon. It is everything I will avoid in a majority of my stories. Doesn't stop people from wanting my stories to be more like it. Anyway, let's get into Chapter 22 of Trust By My Side.**

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A full three months passed since their first B-ranked mission. They had gotten two more B-ranked and five simple C-ranked missions that all went over with little problems. A good number of simple D-ranked supply orders as well, they had been busy. All three of them had currently been called into the Hokage's office personally along side Teacher.

"Good morning everyone. As I am sure you have noticed by now, the chunin exams will be starting up within a month. Construction of an arena will be nearing completion within a week as well. Now, I need to ask before I give you this mission, are you three interested in participating in the exams this time around?" Hiruzen asked, glancing up at Teacher who had a small grin.

"We weren't planning on it Jiji. We are primarily a support squad and that would most likely lead to us forming teams in any combat situation and honestly that feels unfair to us. We would prefer to leave the exams completely fair to the combat squads that train more for these kinds of things." Naruto said getting nods from Tenten and Shikamaru.

"An honorable decision. In that case, the mission I am handing to you will be applying seals to the arena once it is done with construction as well as re-applying seals to the arena in the forest of death that should be finished by now. Repairs have been rather bad since the fuin-jutsu core has been out of action. Payment will be relative to cost saved in repairs." Hiruzen said.

"Anko is escorting us isn't she?" Naruto asked, slightly more excited than Tenten or Shikamaru. "Yes, Mitarashi-san should be along shortly. Here is a build order for what we want the forest arena to have as well as an order for the finals arena. I shouldn't need to tell you this, but all of this is confidential." Hiruzen said. They all just nodded.

"Great, in that case, you can begin as soon as you meet up with Mitarashi-san. Deadline will be in three weeks. After that, foreign teams will begin to flood into the village. Wouldn't want them knowing what kind of seals we have around the arena, would we?" Hiruzen said with a chuckle.

Everyone let out a small chuckle as well and headed downstairs to meet up with Anko. She was already there and halfway through a box of dango. "Hey it's my favorite gakis. You the ones I'm escorting in to the forest?" Anko asked. They all just nodded, albeit a little slower in Tenten and Shikamaru's cases.

"Cool, let's go then. Be nice to get back home sooner rather than later." Anko said as she walked out of the tower. "How can you be so calm around her like that?" Shikamaru asked Naruto. He just shrugged. "She is pretty much an aunt because of how much she visits the compound. Guess I am just used to it." Naruto said.

They all ran after her so they wouldn't be left behind. Teacher had split off to sit back at their office. No sense in all of them going.

It was a rather short trip through the forest following someone who practically lived there. Anko had given them a basic rundown of what the exams were going to be like as they ran. They got into the tower and started looking around the arena. It was a rather basic arena by everyone's perspective.

"What does the build order say?" Naruto asked. Shikamaru unrolled the order and skimmed through it quickly. "Looks like we are mostly just putting seals to keep the building in one piece. Ease of repair is the second priority. So just needs strengthening seals that don't affect earth nin-jutsu I suppose is the basics." Shikamaru said.

"That. Is rather basic. I thought we were supposed to be trapping it or something. Just make the place more durable?" Tenten said, asking for clarification. "Yeah. That is all we are here to do. Seems like a waste to have all three of us on it. Guess it will be an easy ten minutes or so." Shikamaru said.

Naruto just shrugged and picked a wall and placed his hands on it. He could feel it was a bit uneven and could feel a few imperfections in the wall. "They really half-assed the repairs didn't they?" Naruto asked.

"Well it was shinobi workers. Most aren't too focused on their trade and more care about their shinobi career." Anko explained. Naruto just shrugged and channeled some chakra into the walls. They quickly began to even out and he went through a few more hand seals and a gust of wind came through the room and back out the door.

"There. At least it is a bit less dusty in here. Still going to be pain to wash the walls and such." Naruto said. "Ehh, just throw some water jutsu at the walls and call it good." Anko said. "Well, would work. Yeah I guess I got it, probably going to want to leave the room for a minute." Tenten said. Everyone shrugged and walked out of the room. A moment later, a small flood came out of the room and straight out the door to the forest.

Everyone came back a moment later after Tenten dried out the area by means of water jutsu out the door into the forest. Everything was dried out and ready to get the seals written on them.

True to Shikamaru's guess, the seals took only ten minutes. "Well, the walls might as well be made of steel now. There is enough chakra stored in the walls to mend in case they do take damage. So, unless fifty Iwa ninja come through and only know how to fight with earth nin-jutsu, place should be pretty solid for the exams." Naruto said.

"Well that was rather lame. Didn't even finish all of my dango. Usually whoever gets stuck doing this takes forever and I have to start messing with them to get them to hurry up. Whatever, guess that means we are done already. Let's go hand in the mission and get this crap over with." Anko said.

They quickly made their way back to the Hokage's tower, much to his surprise. "Well that was quick. The walls are secured and we won't be having any holes punched through them, again right?" Hiruzen asked.

"Well unless the rules are earth nin-jutsu only, should hold out for at least thirty fights or so." Naruto said. "Thirty? Well I would say that is above expectations. The main arena will be a bit more, flashy, I would say. Should take quite a bit more to complete. Still have quite a while to wait however." Hiruzen explained.

"What do you want us to do in the meantime?" Naruto asked. Hiruzen leaned back a bit and thought about it. A few moments later he had an idea. "How about you just spread out some traps through the forest. Nothing too advanced or too lethal. Would be in bad taste to put too much in the forest. Some numbing poison, sleep gas, small explosions, flash tags. Enough to knock one person out and force teamwork to carry the extra weight." Hiruzen said after a moment.

"Anything else?" Naruto asked. "Well, I did have an idea to spice things up a bit more. Here, I had these prepared ahead of time but thought of scrapping the idea but expected turnout should make it a better idea. There are eleven small boxes in this scroll. I want you to trap each with something high chunin level and hide them as well as you think a chunin might find. They contain a small gift each should someone be able to unlock the chest. Make the trap capable of knocking someone out for at least a full day. High risk, potential high reward." Hiruzen explained as Tenten took the scroll.

"Sounds rather interesting Hokage-sama. Should make for quite the fun show this time around." Anko said with a grin. "You will get to see what they are capable of when they get in there." Hiruzen said with an equal grin.

"That good with you Anko?" Naruto asked. "I gotta babysit you guys while you trap the entire forest?" Anko asked, shocked. "Well, after your little trip through the forest, do you believe you are easily capable of going in alone?" Hiruzen asked, putting on an even face.

"Definitely. Will slow down progress but I guess we got a lot of time to work on it. How dense do you want the traps to be?" Naruto asked. "Not too dense. We want to cut the numbers down to a little below half of what goes in. There is also chance Konoha shinobi could be caught in the traps. I will say again, but this is all confidential. If I find out someone gets through by expertly dodging all traps." Hiruzen said, letting the threat hang off open.

Naruto, Tenten and Shikamaru all nodded at that. Wouldn't make sense to say they didn't want to compete to give one team an advantage and then give a team an advantage after all. "Payment will be relative to expenses so keep track of what you use. You have a little over a week to finish up. No rush at all." Hiruzen said. They nodded and quickly left the tower to head back to the office to gather some extra supplies.

They quickly made their way back to the forest and walked into the forest without a second thought. "Let's trap just inside the gates. Someone quite obvious that would never stop a chunin. This should instantly put everyone on guard and make them more likely to pay attention for traps. Aside from those first ones, solid chunin level traps. Sound good?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, first traps should be maybe numbing poison traps. Force a team to slow down and lose any advantage they could have by potentially rushing toward the tower. Can put something louder near the tower to potentially ruin any ambushes." Shikamaru suggested.

"We can't be too dense so let's spread out other traps in areas that should have a lot of use. Rivers, clearings, any place that could be used to hide in. We could probably put together something that would attract the wildlife around. Maybe like a wounded animal call or something to attract predators." Tenten suggested.

"It should be simple enough. Only thing left is the boxes. We can put a high chunin level locking seal on it easy enough. What do we use for punishment of failure though?" Shikamaru asked.

"How about a loud flash bomb that would blind and deafen the team trying to work on the box as well as alert nearby teams. On top of that, maybe a chakra suppressing seal that would seal half of the chakra from whoever failed until they make it to the tower." Naruto suggested.

"I like it. Short term bad news for whole team and one person becomes near dead weight for rest of test. We should hide them, some normally, some behind a gen-jutsu tag, and maybe a few in hard to reach places." Tenten offered.

"Should we look at rewards and hide some better depending on reward?" Naruto asked? "Probably a good call. Where should we put the best rewards?" Shikamaru asked.

"How about we set the best right in front of the tower? Near plain sight, would require a sensor of some kind to find and then would need to be disarmed right in plain sight. Here you go, this one." Tenten said, handing Shikamaru a box. He peeked inside and nodded before they headed toward the tower.

They got a short distance away from the front door and dug a small hole about two feet deep. They dropped the box inside after locking it tight and placing a gen-jutsu seal over it that would disorient anyone that started trying to dig it out. They also defined a boundary that would cause the box to burn everything around it if someone moved it too far from where they dug it up.

"That should do pretty nicely. Would need at least someone competent with gen-justu, as well as fuin-jutsu on the same team to get that. Should probably not keep all of them needing a fully rounded team to get. Should mostly be combat squads so let's make a few of them just super durable." Tenten suggested.

"We can do that. We are probably going to be stuck here a day or two. Might as well not risk working in the dark. Sun will be down before too long. Let's get the area around the tower done and head to the gate and work our way in tomorrow morning." Shikamaru said.

"That is fair enough to me. Jiji said we would have about a week or so. Plenty of time." Naruto said. They all nodded a bit and got back work.

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Their fourth day in the forest was nearing mid-day when they finally finished. They were just leaving the hokage tower after letting him know it was done. He had given them the requested seals for the finals arena and they made their way back to their office to get them built before the arena was done with construction.

They still had approximately four more days until the arena would be ready so they could take their time. Teacher had said she would go with them for the finals arena so Naruto had a clone at the front desk so Teacher could work with them downstairs.

Quite a few of the seals were rather simple, hardening seals for the walls, seals that would even out the ground in between rounds. The main seal they needed to work on was a large seal along the top of the arena walls to prevent any stray jutsu from hitting the crowd.

Teacher had a base design for it that they modified a few different ways for Hiruzen to chose from. Their preference had been a slanted wall that would deflect any jutsu up and away from the crowd linked to a chakra battery seal that would hold many times more chakra than they could individually.

That seal would go on to be the one chosen by Hiruzen. They were also tasked to put some explosive tags in the ground that would all randomly arm and disarm themselves. Some could sit dormant for a few rounds and then suddenly explode.

There were flash tags in the forested area, shock tags near the stream, there were also seals that would launch volleys of rocks from the walls into the center of the arena. All in all, those were mostly distractions or simulating a larger battle.

They had a few more seals that were taking up until the deadline to complete but were done as well. The exams were certainly going to be huge with how much Hiruzen and the council were investing in just the arenas.

They were currently sitting in their office tackling a very large order placed by the armory. They needed to make thousands of explosive tags as well as a few hundred of Naruto's wind seals. A few hundred firestorm seals as well as seals primarily used from trapping were also ordered.

They barely managed to complete the entire order a day early and were ordered to take the day before the exams on light wall duty to watch incoming foreign shinobi and report to the Hokage's tower first thing in the morning.

They had heard that all of their friends were competing and called everyone to meet up at Naruto's house to have a big dinner before the exams started. Naruto had a hunch they were going to wonder why they weren't competing.

"Are you guys excited for the chunin exams?" Ino said as soon as she made it into the house. Choji and Shino both followed shortly behind her. "It is going to be rather nice show huh?" Naruto said with a nervous laugh.

Shino nodded slightly, Choji gave Shikamaru a confused look and Ino got closer to Naruto and stared at him. "You guys aren't going to compete then?" She said after a moment. "Nope, we are a research and support squad. Combat exams aren't exactly in our interest." Naruto said.

"Why not? How are you going to get promoted then?" Ino asked. "Hard work? Rank doesn't really matter in our division Ino. We are support and support squads don't need to lead missions like most chunin. Besides, there is a lot of work to be done and competing would put us way behind." Naruto said.

"You guys suck. Guess that means we have a higher chance of getting promoted then." Ino said before she finally came all the way in and sat down. Choji and Shino both followed quickly. "Any know if Hinata and her team are going to compete?" Naruto asked.

"Last I heard they are all healthy this time around and are eager to compete. Also think Sasuke and Sakura got a new teammate to replace Romi. Poor Lee doesn't know what he is getting himself into." Ino said, a bit saddened remembering what happened to Romi.

"Dammit Lee. I better talk to him before he gets himself crippled or worse as well. Rather enjoy training with him and Gai-sensei. Speaking of that, avoid their team in any combat. Lee is by far faster than any genin I have ever heard of. He is faster than me without weights while he still has his weights on. His weights are also almost double what mine are at." Tenten said.

Shino quirked an eyebrow at that. Tenten had always been the fastest in their classes. She also said she trained with them so he decided to take her word for it. Choji was having similar thoughts but Ino wasn't worrying about him. She was more concerned with Sasuke.

They all had decided to let go of their grudge against Sasuke for Romi's sake, but old wounds never quite heal right. She shook that thought aside as they head a knock on the door. "Hey guys, Romi and Shiho are here." Tenten called from the door.

"Hey guys, is everyone excited for the exams?" Romi asked as cheerfully as she could. "We are, those kill joys aren't going to compete." Ino said, pointing toward Naruto, Tenten and Shikamaru. "Again, we are a research and support squad. No point in us diving into the combat squads competing." Shikamaru said this time.

"Shiho, did you find a team to compete with?" Naruto asked. "Me? Oh no. I'm not strong enough for that. I'm just career cryptanalysis core." Shiho said, waving her hands dismissively. "Did your division get pulled into the judging of the finals?" Tenten asked.

"I believe Mitoku-shishou was called to sit in the judges seating during the finals. He asked me to sit with him there. It sounds like it is mostly division heads and possibly their apprentices are going to be there." Shiho explained. "I wonder if Teacher will get roped into that." Naruto said mostly to himself.

"Did you guys check out any of the competition that trickled in all day?" Shikamaru asked. "Yeah, was actually kind of let down. There are quite a few Iwa-nin competing this year but none of them really seemed strong. Alot of brawn over brain by the look of them." Ino said.

"Some of them were even bigger than me." Choji chimed in. "So none of you noticed him then?" Naruto asked. "Who?" Ino asked back. "Suna-nin with a gourd on his back. You could say I have a very strong gut feeling that he has as much chakra as me." Naruto said.

Everyone except Shiho stiffened a bit at that. "That, sounds bad." Shino said. "Yeah, I would be very careful around him. He doesn't seem to be quite as, social, as me." Naruto said seriously. Shiho looked around at everyone. She had a hunch he was talking about his condition as jinchuriki. She also knew it was forbidden to talk about it so she kept quiet.

The conversations turned a bit lighter after that. Everyone sharing stories about missions and overall what they had been working on. Everyone started heading home a few hours later, eager to get a full nights rest before the exams.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

It would turn into an early morning for the fuin-jutsu core. Just as the sun was coming up, they were entering the Hokage's office. "Glad to see you all this morning. The exams are a few hours away and with it, I have a few things to discuss with you four." Hiruzen said looking at each of them.

"First, Shoko Tsuda. You have been stand in head of the fuin-jutsu core for the last six months as well as being the only reliable practitioner of the art within the village for several years prior. I am going to give you your much needed promotion to tokubetsu jonin that has been overdue for far too long." Hiruzen started as he pulled out a small scroll, handing it off to Teacher.

"Thank you Hokage-sama." Teacher said with a bow. Hiruzen waved her off saying again how it was overdue. "Now then, with your promotion, I have a mission for you. You will be, more or less, an assistant proctor for the exams starting in a few hours. All four of you will be helping in some form or another." Hiruzen said as he pulled another scroll from his desk.

He unrolled it and unsealed three flack jackets. "I am promoting all three of you to chunin on a temporary basis. It will be a test run of sorts as well as if you three were to be assisting in the chunin exams as genin, it could raise questions. Your first orders are to proceed to the forest of death were there are three tents already set up." Hiruzen started, pausing for a moment at how excited Naruto and Tenten seemed to be getting their vests on.

"You will apply a silencing seal, and chakra sealing seal inside so no one can hear out of the tent as well as use chakra inside, aside from yourselves of course. One of you will be in each tent. Your duty will be to write the heartbeat monitoring seal and tracking seal you completed a few days ago on each competitor. You will only have about two minutes a person. They will know that going in. If they leave without the seals, Mitarashi-san will disqualify them." Hiruzen explained.

All three of them got their flack jackets on and nodded. Hiruzen produced another scroll and handed it to Shikamaru with a nod himself. "After everyone has been sealed, you will meet with Mitarashi-san after the exams formally start and follow her to the tower where you will sit with me and monitor the exams. We will be keeping track of teams that lose teammates and quickly evacuate those that do. Any questions?" Hiruzen asked.

"Yes, there is another jinchuriki in the exams. Suna's to be exact. Are you sure you want us to bring him into a tent with no chakra allowed?" Naruto asked. "Jiraiya-kun had the same concern. He threw together these tags for just such an occasion. These will seal specifically bijuu chakra and if you have him enter your tent, quickly slam this into his stomach and he should be subdued. I would recommend deactivating the chakra suppressing seal before you let him leave however. Odds are, it will probably knock him out and giving him back his chakra should wake him back up." Hiruzen said.

Naruto just nodded as each of them took three tags each. Plenty but you can never be too careful after all. "That should be all then. You three better hurry to the forest of death. Mitarashi-san will need to talk to you before she prepares for her day. Best to not keep her waiting." Hiruzen said with a chuckle.

All three of them looked at each other and nodded before taking off. Naruto had a clone go for a box of dango in case they were already late. "So, do you think they should keep the promotion after these exams?" Hiruzen asked Teacher. "One hundred percent. Those kids are some of the most talented genin I have seen." Teacher said with pride radiating off her. Hiruzen just nodded and leaned back in his chair. He would prepare to go to the forest of death himself soon.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Naruto, Tenten and Shikamaru had gotten set up next to the forest of death quickly enough. They talked to Anko a bit. They went over their duties and a few general things they needed to pay attention to. Anko left a few hours later to round up those that passed the first part of the exam.

They all waited a bit before they saw the crowd start to fill the small clearing in front of their tents. They were pleased to see Ino, Choji, Shino, Lee, Hinata as well as a few more that they knew had made it to the finals. They could see Ino flush red seeing their flack jackets. At least she didn't say anything yet.

"Now listen up. As you know, I am your proctor for this second part of the chunin exams Anko Mitarashi. What I say is law and if you can't follow my law, you and your team are out. This, is the forest of death. You and your team will be welcomed inside for the next six days. You will all be given a scroll. Either an earth, or a heaven scroll." Anko said as she held up one of each for everyone to see.

"You and your team must all make it to the center of the forest within the time limit with one of each scroll. If one of your teammates die, anbu will be deployed to escort your remaining teammates out of the forest and you will be disqualified. This brings me to my next point. You must all sign this waver if you wish to continue. This waver will remove all blame from Konoha if you die in this forest." Anko said, waving a stack of papers in front of her.

A few people shouted but Anko just started laughing. "If you are unwilling to go into a hostile mission without accepting that you could die, you don't deserve to be chunin. You have five minutes to have a signed waver in my hand or your entire team is disqualified." Anko said as she dropped the papers on a table.

All of the teams present quickly grabbed the papers and read through them before signing. They all made the time limit so Anko continued. "There is only one more thing that needs to be done. My assistants behind me will be marking every single one of you with a heartbeat monitoring seal as well as a tracking seal. These seals will be used to assist anbu squads in recovering teams that have teammates perish in the forest. Failure to be marked within two minutes of entering the tents will be met with disqualification. Attacking my assistants will also result in disqualification." Anko said.

More shouts came but Anko just called the first team to the tents. Naruto, Tenten and Shikamaru went into their tents and waited a moment before the first team entered. The first team in was Ino, Choji and Shino. Ino, having gone into Naruto's tent started yelling at him how he got a promotion without going through the exams.

Naruto quickly started a timer before turning to Ino. "Ino, we were promoted to assist in the exams. If we were genin, no one would have taken our position as assistants nearly as seriously. Now, you have two minutes to get this seal. You can complain after the exams. Take your shirt off, this goes over your heart." Naruto said as he got his ink and brush ready.

Ino almost yelled at him again but realized Anko did say she only had two minutes and if she wasn't going to get disqualified for some dumb reason like this. "If I find out you could have put it on my arm I'm going to be pissed. You realize this right?" Ino asked.

"Ino, I have seen you naked several times before. Don't blame me, blame Anko. She has free reign over this and it was assumed she would send girls to Tenten for their seal. Really hope I don't have to be the one to disqualify some stupid girl who tries to slap me when I say that it goes on their chest." Naruto said in an even tone.

Ino just sighed and pulled her shirt off and moved her chest wraps out of the way maintaining most of her modesty. Naruto quickly applied the seal and left Ino plenty of time to get dressed again. "I'm sorry for overreacting. Congrats on the promotion." Ino said shyly as she exited the tent. 'Weird.' Naruto thought as he reset the timer for the next person.

The next few went fast enough until he met his first problem. This being a rather annoyed twelve year old Hyuga named Hanabi. "I will not disrobe for you you pervert." She yelled at him. "Your choice. Exit is right there. I will let Mitarashi-san that you are unwilling to accept the seals and your team will be disqualified for failure to follow orders." Naruto said simply, setting down his ink.

Hanabi's eyes went wide. Her clan would no doubt chew her up and spit her out if she failed for such a trivial reason. She bit her tongue and shook her head. Naruto stopped heading toward the door and looked at her. She fidgeted with kimono styled top for a moment before reluctantly shrugging it off her shoulders.

Naruto nodded and grabbed his ink and brush as she pulled her chest wrappings down as well. While Naruto was writing the seal, Hanabi started talking again. "My father will be hearing about this. I hope for your sake you understand just what it means to be seeing an heiress like this without Father's permission." She said.

"Yeah, if Hiashi-sama has a problem with me doing my mission handed to me personally by Hokage-sama, I will listen to his complaints and then refer him to Hokage-sama." Naruto said flatly. Hanabi huffed a bit at that response as Naruto finished writing the seal. She quickly got her top fixed and stormed out of the tent. Naruto couldn't help himself and chuckled a bit at her antics. She was so different from Hinata after all.

The next person through his tent door gave him a surprise as well. "You are going to compete as well Kono?" Naruto asked. "Yeah, Jiji said I could. We passed the first part no problem." Konohamaru said, puffing out his chest a bit. "Good, I need to put this seal on your chest so take off your shirt. You graduated six months ago as well right?" Naruto asked as he got started on the seal.

"Yup, Jiji said I was at the top of my class as well." Konohamaru said. "Really? Well good job. Do be careful in the forest. It is pretty dangerous and there are quite a few strong teams out there." Naruto said. "Will do. Congrats on making chunin. How does the vest feel? I can't wait to get mine at the end of the exams." Konohamaru asked.

"It is quite comfy actually. I am sure you will find out soon enough." Naruto said with a smile pointing Konohamaru toward the door. Konohamaru nodded and exited. 'He will do fine.' Naruto thought to himself as he had to catch the next person entering. 'Oh shit.' Naruto thought as he quickly slammed the seal Hiruzen gave him into Gaara's stomach.

He sat him in a chair he had inside the tent and quickly wrote the seal on his chest. He had a pile of sand start to fall off his skin. Some kind of defense if he had to guess. He got the seal done in just a few seconds and disabled the chakra suppressing seal.

A small wall of sand formed between the two as Gaara came to his senses. "What happened?" Gaara asked. "We have a chakra suppressing seal in the tent that knocked you out because of your condition. You have a minute to recover before you need to exit so your team doesn't get disqualified." Naruto explained.

"You already did what you needed to?" Gaara asked. Naruto just nodded. "You have my thanks brother." Gaara said before the sand reformed over his chest and he exited the tent a moment later after he recovered. 'Brother huh. I guess we do share similar burdens.' Naruto thought for a moment.

As Naruto dealt with Gaara, Shikamaru had to deal with Temari. "For the last time, this is my mission. If you don't want the seals, leave and be disqualified. If I am forced to defend myself, you and your team will be disqualified as well. The choice is up to you." Shikamaru said as he stepped back outside of fan range.

"Why the hell do they have a man putting seals on women's chests?" Temari demanded. "Because Mitarashi-san enjoys a good laugh at everyone else's expense? I have no idea. We have a female teammate. If it wasn't part of the exams, she would have sent you to her." Shikamaru said, putting his hands up to try and get Temari to put down her fan.

"Part of the exam?" Temari said quietly to herself, dropping her fan to her side. "Damn troublesome woman. I am not getting paid enough for this. You wasted a full minute of your time. This seal will take about thirty seconds. If you want to continue, I recommend hurrying." Shikamaru said as he readied his ink and brush.

"Ah hell." Temari said angrily as she planted her fan into the ground and opened her kimono styled top. Shikamaru quickly got to work and once done, merely said he was done. "Pervert." Was all Temari said as she walked out. 'I feel like she would have actually gotten disqualified if she had chakra. At least she didn't try to club me with it from the start.' Shikamaru thought as he took a deep breath.

A few more simple before the person Naruto least wanted to walk through his tent door. Sasuke Uchiha. "How did you get promoted before I did?" Was the first thing Sasuke asked. "I applied myself to training and completing missions to the best of my ability. If you want the seal you need to move on with the exam, remove your shirt and let me get to work." Naruto said shortly.

He wouldn't say he hated Sasuke for what he did to Romi, but he certainly didn't like him. "Che, just hurry up." Sasuke said. Naruto had to bite his tongue to not just stall out two minutes. He was friendly enough with Lee that he didn't want to fail him for such a petty reason.

Sasuke stormed out of the tent as soon as the seal was done, much to Naruto's pleasure. He was hoping that he could get another simple sealing done but his wishes would go unanswered. As soon as the flaps opened he instantly knew something was wrong.

"What is happening?" Came the distressed voice that entered. "Shit." Naruto quickly yelled before he dashed forward and planted a seal right in the girl's stomach that had just entered. "Are you all right?" Naruto asked as he helped her up.

"I guess, why did you attack Fuu?" The girl asked. "Huh? You were starting to lose control of the bijuu inside you. Is your name Fuu or the bijuu's name Fuu?" Naruto asked. "Bijuu? What's a bijuu? Fuu has no idea what you are talking about? Fuu is Fuu." Fuu said, pointing toward herself.

"So you are Fuu. How do you not know what the bijuu are? They are the nine tailed beasts. If you are from Taki that should mean you have the seven tailed beast in you. How did you never know that?" Naruto asked. Fuu just tilted her head a bit in a confused manner.

"Do you have a lot of chakra compared to everyone you know? Do people randomly not like you? Do you have trouble with chakra control? Then you are a jinchuriki with the seven tailed beast sealed in you." Naruto explained, continuing when he got a nod.

"Fuu doesn't get it. Is that bad?" Fuu asked. "Well no, just unique. We are running out of time, I need to put this seal on your chest. Please take off your shirt so I can put the seal on." Naruto said. Fuu simply nodded and pulled her shirt off, not taking the slightest effort to cover herself like the other girls Naruto ended up getting stuck sealing.

He nodded appreciatively at that as he didn't need to work around her arms and the process went a bit faster because of it. "If you can find me after the exams, I will try to talk to you more about the bijuu. For now, I wouldn't exactly recommend telling anyone about it. People tend to fear the bijuu and their containers. Good luck with the exams." Naruto said with a nod after he was done with the seal. Fuu pulled her shirt back down and gave him a smile before nearly skipping out of the tent.

'She seems like she never knew. I really hope I didn't make a mistake telling her. She seems very well adjusted, although talking in the third person is a bit odd. Maybe Taki didn't abuse her too much. She didn't say how bad it was. Just that she wasn't liked. Could just be her slightly odd personality. Doubt that though.' Naruto thought as he heard Anko call out that those with the seal needed to go get a scroll and go to their assigned gates.

Naruto, Tenten and Shikamaru all gave it a few minutes before they exited their tents. "So, did you enjoy your shows there boys?" Anko said sickly sweetly. "Well, I didn't die so why not?" Shikamaru said with a shrug. "Sure Anko. I need to rush to see Jiji. That Taki girl was a jinchuriki. He will need to be informed." Naruto said seriously. "Really? Let's go then. We got a bit before the gates open. We will be good to go for a bit unless a team is smart enough to actually go before the gates automatically open. Gate 1 right here is empty let's go." Anko said pushing open the gate and jumping in.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

 **Hot damn that took way too long to finish. Take whatever excuses you liked from previous chapters and apply those here. Anyway, onto questions I am expecting.**

 **Hanabi and Konohamaru are both 12 yes. This puts them both about 3 years older than they would have been otherwise. Reasons I did this is as follows.**

 **I rather enjoy their characters overall and want them in the story. To make their back stories a bit simpler, I made them 3 years older. Main example is Hanabi being said to have more potential than Hinata. With Hinata being 5-6 years older, I didn't like that so I changed it to Hinata only being two years older.**

 **Other thing that I suppose I could have pointed out. Most people are wearing clothes and gear similar to what they would have worn in part 2 of canon. Exceptions being Hanabi and Konohamaru and his team. They are wearing similar to what they wore in the last movie.**

 **Anyway, hope you liked the chapter.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Welcome back to the next chapter. Once more a case of too many ideas in my head, not enough will to focus on one story. Got a bit into what would be a crossover/self-insert/time-travel fic. 100% for my own enjoyment so don't expect that any time soon.**

 **Otherwise, trying to get into the Avatar the Last Airbender fandom a bit more. Would love to write my own story but just can't find many stories that interest me to give me ideas. The M-rated stories are mostly smut and not really too many good, dark stories that I can find. Again, don't expect anything any time soon. Not even in the pre-writing phase yet.**

 **Past those ideas that I have been thinking about too much, need to continue my other stories I have already posted. So lazy and so many problems irl. Same old same old. Enough of that though. Let's get into Chapter 23 of Trust By My Side.**

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Naruto, Tenten, Shikamaru and Anko rushed through the gate and headed straight toward the tower. Hiruzen would need to be told about Fuu. He had not briefed them on her so they assumed he didn't know. Fuu didn't even know herself so it made sense to Naruto.

Making it there with no distractions, they quickly headed up to the top floor that the Hokage was residing in. They were quickly cleared to enter and they all sat around a small table with Hiruzen's crystal ball sat in the middle on top of a large scroll that covered the entire table.

"You four made it here quickly, I assume something has happened to warrant your rather rushed entry." Hiruzen said. "Jiji, Fuu from Taki is the jinchuriki of the seven tails. She had no idea and we thought it urgent to let you know." Naruto said.

"So Taki finally reveals their jinchuriki. We are allies so I will not bring it up unless she causes problems. You say she has no idea? Were you able to get an idea of how advanced of a jinchuriki she is without knowing about her burden?" Hiruzen asked.

Naruto opened his mouth to talk but paused a moment. "Actually, I think she might have more demonic chakra running through her than Gaara. She didn't pass out when she entered the tent, but was concerned by the change. She didn't understand it though. I'm not sure though. She wouldn't be trained in it's chakra if she didn't know about it. Maybe her seal has been loosened over the years and she never thought about it. She does seem rather, oblivious maybe." Naruto replied.

"Hmm, Kazekage-dono's reports say Gaara is as close to a perfect jinchuriki that Suna has ever reached. If this girl has more of her bijuu's chakra running through her than Gaara, that could be a problem. Shibuki-sama has sent word that he will not attend the finals regardless of the turn out. I do question that response but I believe it could be he does not believe his teams will not make it." Hiruzen said thoughtfully.

"If they sent a jinchuriki, how the hell would they not expect them to make it?" Anko chimed in. "Maybe you are right. Shibuki-sama is a rather timid man however. Perhaps he is intimidated by the prospect of meeting with several kage. He is still young after all." Hiruzen responded.

"What do you want us to do with this information Hokage-sama?" Tenten asked a moment later. "We will keep it silent for now. No need to spill Taki secrets if not necessary. Keep those tags with you at all times in case she loses control. I can't imagine she has much control if she doesn't know about her burden. Be prepared for anything. Also, Naruto-kun, there are now two jinchuriki within our walls." Hiruzen started, getting Naruto's full attention.

"After this round, so five days, there will be a month break to send out messengers with the second round results. We will be planning on escorts for nobles, merchants, and so on to make it for the final round. With two jinchuriki inside our walls, you will have to be stronger. If one of them transforms, we will be the only two capable of the raw power needed to subdue them. In my age, it will probably be the death of me, especially if it is the seven tails." Hiruzen said, showing his age a bit for the first time Naruto had ever remembered.

"You want me to train in Kyuubi-dono's chakra more, right? I understand Jiji. Will Jiraiya-sama be returning as well?" Naruto asked, pausing slightly for a nod to answer his first question. "Jiraiya-kun is searching for Tsunade-chan currently. I am recalling them both for this exams. He should hopefully make it in time for the finals but not early enough to be there for all of your training. Seek out Shisui and ask Yugao to seek out Tenzo. They will both be cleared for a three week training trip a short way outside the village to help you train." Hiruzen answered.

"I, understand Jiji. I won't let you down." Naruto said, picking himself up a bit with conviction. "You never have Naruto-kun. Now, when Jiraiya-kun returns, he will be loosening your seal once more. You will hopefully have a full week to acclimate to the changes before the finals. Enough of that for now. Let's see how the competitors are fairing." Hiruzen said, breaking the tension in the room.

Naruto, Tenten and Shikamaru all nodded as Naruto flashed through hand seals. He slammed his palm on the scroll in front of his and instantly several small orange dots appeared. Tenten and Shikamaru both placed their hands on the scroll as well and several blue and green dots appeared as well.

There were many that were completely stationary and many groups, each with one color dot, moving rapidly around the large circle drawn on the scroll. "What team is this? They don't seem to be in much of a hurry." Tenten asked, pointed out a team walking casually through the forest.

Hiruzen placed his hands on his crystal ball a moment and zeroed in on the location. "Gaara's team. I wonder why they are walking so slowly. They are probably one of the strongest teams competing." Shikamaru said.

"Maybe they are just that confident. Usually the confident ones that die first." Anko said. "I highly doubt they are going to die Mitarashi-san." Hiruzen said. "Hey, a trap went off." Naruto pointed out. "What did you put there Shika?" He asked.

"Pepper bomb. If they took the brunt of it, they will be blind for a while." Shikamaru said. His suspicions were proven correct when two of the team members rushed to the nearest source of water and sat inside for a few moments.

"Poor guys." Tenten said. A bit later, Naruto chimed in with what everyone was wondering. "Jiji can we check on Ino's team?" Naruto asked. Hiruzen nodded, curious himself. A moment later the ball showed them all rushing directly to the tower. "Hmm, if a team was going to ambush another, their team would be a good team to do it." Tenten chimed in.

They were running right toward a trap but suddenly stopped. They all watched Shino stop everyone and send a few bugs forward. A few moments later he went forward and pulled a tag off a branch they almost walked under. Hiruzen made a curious hum.

"Shino worked with us a bit Jiji. We didn't tell him anything, he just knows what we do." Naruto said. Hiruzen let out a small chuckle at that but said nothing. Shino ended up pocketing the tag and continuing on to the tower. They all stopped just short of the tower.

This time, Ino was the one that stopped them. "Told you putting too much gen-jutsu over that would tip off anyone decent at gen-jutsu." Naruto said. "Yeah, after we left the forest." Tenten chided. "What did you hide in front of the door?" Hiruzen asked, keeping his tone as even as possible.

"Uhh, probably the best reward box?" Naruto said meekly. Hiruzen gave him a sharp glance but said nothing once more. Naruto flinched a bit. "They still have to defuse it. Shino might be able to, but it will take time. If someone manages to ambush them, it might backfire going for it." Shikamaru said.

Everyone nodded and watched intently. Ino had dispelled the gen-jutsu and Shino sent some bugs to investigate. He said there was no immediate trap, but a box was buried in the dirt. Choji used a small earth jutsu to push the box to the surface. Once more Shino's bugs investigated.

He deemed it safe enough to look at himself and took the box and looked it over. They could all tell him talking to his team and he eventually sat down and started working on the seals on it. "He is disarming the proximity seal first. Smart." Shikamaru chimed in. "Why did we put that seal on the outside again?" Naruto asked.

"Because it will take longer to diffuse that way." Tenten answered. "What all did you lock that box with?" Hiruzen asked. "Basically it has a complex locking seal, it was covered in gen-jutsu, and if you take it too far away, it will catch on fire." Naruto replied.

Hiruzen nodded at that and continued watching. They were there for almost thirty minutes before Shino managed to turn the proximity seal off. He added his own chakra to the seal and turned it off so he could activate it himself. He began working on the lock a moment later before Ino said something and they all scattered. Gaara, Temari and Kankuro ignored them and entered the tower.

"Wait what?" Naruto asked. They all looked over the map and found one team not moving. Their heartbeats were all rather erratic but were still alive. They checked with the ball and they were all laying in a broken heap.

"Well damn. That was fast." Anko commented. "Little over an hour. Destroyed the previous record." Hiruzen chimed in. "Should we evacuate the team they destroyed?" Tenten asked. "No, the rules are they are in the forest for six days or until one of them dies. We cannot show anyone special treatment." Hiruzen said firmly. Tenten just nodded.

"Didn't you say five days earlier?" Shikamaru asked. Anko chuckled a bit at that. "True I did. They were informed they would be in the forest for six days. The mission is to make it to the tower in five. Those that cannot finish their mission with time to spare are not ready. Those that wait to finish their mission at the deadline are also not ready." Hiruzen explained.

Everyone nodded at that for a moment before turning back to the map. Ino, Choji and Shino had all made a curved retreat and they looked like they were going to regroup a short distance away. That was the plan anyway.

Choji got cut off by another team. They turned the ball to him and he was being pushed back by Lee quickly throwing punch after punch. Looking back at the map, Sakura and Sasuke were both waiting behind him, ready to ambush.

"Turn it to Sasuke." Naruto said suddenly. Hiruzen nodded and switched the ball to Sasuke. His sharingan was active and he was running through a long series of hand seals. "I am breaking his hands if he aims at Lee with that jutsu." Tenten said coldly.

Hiruzen absently nodded as the large fire dragon escaped Sasuke's lips and headed right for Choji's back. A senbon struck Sasuke in the hand a moment after the dragon formed. Sasuke gasped and Choji turned in time to see the rapidly dissolving dragon approach him.

He threw himself forward into Lee and pushed them both back out of the danger zone. Lee recovered quickly and twisted himself to the side, freeing himself from the shoulder charge. He swiftly went back on the offensive, keeping Choji busy and slowly wearing him down.

Sasuke pulled the senbon out of his hand and tossed it aside in time to dodge the large swarm of insects flying toward him. He started spitting out small fireballs that the insects dodged for the most part. Every now and again, an insect would brightly flash, temporarily blinding Sasuke. Shino was pushing Sasuke back slowly toward a trap his insects had placed moments before.

Sasuke could tell he was being pushed in a certain direction. Deciding that he had enough, he flipped through a few hand seals and spat a large fireball this time. A small group of larger insects flew toward the fireball, all carrying a seal. A blue barrier appeared between each of the insects, dissipating the fireball for the most part until the barrier exploded.

Shino frowned a bit that that. He didn't have too many insects large enough to carry those seals and he just lost several of them. The fighting stopped a moment later.

Everyone turned to see Ino holding an unconscious Sakura with a handful of senbon to her neck. Lee dropped his hands instantly and took a step forward, only to be blocked by Choji putting a hand in front of him.

Everyone could tell Sasuke was yelling but they didn't have audio so were unsure what he was saying. Shino had went to Lee and placed seals on his arms as part of the arrangement to release Sakura. As he approached Sasuke, he quickly kicked him away and started running through hand seals.

"He wouldn't." Naruto said sharply. A large wave of electricity shot out directly at Ino and Sakura. Shino had made a clone of insects as soon as he got kicked and had them substitute with a stunned Ino. Lee had charged and tackled Sakura out of the way of the worst of it. Lee still took some of the hit but managed to get back up. He looked down at Sakura and saw she looked very hurt.

Ino had snapped back to reality hearing Lee scream. She looked like she was screaming at Sasuke but he was just sitting there with a smirk on his face. He threw several shuriken at her which Ino dodged until the wires holding them together snared her and pinned her to a tree behind her.

Shino sent a large number of insects directly toward Sasuke but he thrust his palms out, one toward the bugs, one toward the wires. The bugs dropped instantly, all dead due to the large burst of lightning that was released and Ino started jolting randomly and screaming under similar shocks that ran through the wires.

Choji instantly enlarged his body to almost double his size and grabbed the wires before yanking Sasuke toward him. The jutsu stopped, and Choji slammed Sasuke hard into the ground, making his head spin. Shino swayed his way to Ino and cut away the wires, trying to catch her as she fell but falling himself as well, clutching his head in apparent pain.

Everyone looked back in time to see a downed Sasuke grab the hand Choji was still holding him down his and shocking him enough to get him to stumble backwards. He started going through a very long line of hand seals before he suddenly stopped and fell forward.

Lee was standing behind him with his arm still extended after chopping him in the back of the neck, knocking him out. Everyone watching let out a breath they hadn't realized they were holding. Lee reached down and pulled out their scroll from Sasuke's pocket and tossed it to Choji. He bowed deeply before throwing Sasuke and Sakura over his shoulder and running off.

"He wasn't ready after all." Hiruzen said tiredly. Hiruzen made note of the killing intent rolling off the kids in front of him. It wasn't enough to phase him but still impressive. Anbu took that moment to drop from the roof and put kunai to the kids necks. "Enough, stand down." Hiruzen said sharply. The anbu nodded and backed off.

"He will be thoroughly evaluated as soon as the exams are finished. Pending the results, he will be stripped of his rank and spend time in jail. He does not possess the will of fire. The inability to care for comrades means he will never be part of a team ever again. His best case scenario would be a solo agent in the anbu. I personally would not vote on it." Hiruzen said, getting everyone to calm down considerably.

Everyone watched Choji struggle to carry Ino and Shino in the direction of the tower. They stumbled through the doors a few moments later. "I am going to go talk to them." Naruto said firmly. "Just remember you cannot assist them in any way. It will disqualify them." Anko said. Naruto nodded and exited the room heading down to the waiting room.

Naruto waited for a moment before they opened both of the scrolls. The scrolls would summon someone to the scrolls after they were both opened. It would normally be one of the proctors but Naruto just walked in after the smoke appeared. Hiruzen had made sure no one was summoned.

"Naruto, where is the medical bay?" Choji asked instantly. Naruto waved for his friend to follow. He led them straight to the medical bay and nurses quickly took Ino and Shino and got to work on them. "Choji, how injured are you?" Naruto asked.

"Tired and a few nerves are probably fried." Choji replied. "I need to know what Sasuke said while he was fighting you guys." Naruto said. Choji sighed tiredly. He wanted rest but Naruto wasn't looking like he was going to let him.

"He, basically was just saying we were all in his way to becoming stronger so we were disposable. When Sakura got captured, he called her a useless bitch and that she became a hindrance to him. He shot a lightning jutsu at her and Ino. He was using only lethal jutsu through the fight. Shino saved Ino and I let Lee save Sakura. It looked like Lee broke one of her arms with how hard he had to tackled her." Choji explained.

"He willingly put his squad mate in danger out of pride then on top of using only lethal force against allied shinobi. What did Lee say when he gave you guys their scroll?" Naruto asked. "He just apologized for Sasuke's actions and asked us to let him leave." Choji said. Naruto just nodded.

"All right. Choji, if they make it through the second round, and one of you guys have to fight him. Beat the shit out of him. Do not hold anything back against him. He is a threat to his fellow shinobi and I am not going to tolerate another friend losing their career to him." Naruto said. Choji nodded bitterly.

"Get healed up. You guys are probably going to need the rest." Naruto said before he stood up to go back upstairs. "Yeah." Choji said quietly as he turned to go to the medical bay himself.

Making it back upstairs, Naruto sat down and closed his eyes for a moment before Hiruzen asked what happened. "Choji told me Sasuke was using strictly lethal force in his jutsu and his attitude towards Sakura was that she had become a hindrance and thus became expendable." Naruto replied.

"That is troubling indeed. While lethal force is allowed in the forest, using it against fellow Konoha shinobi is a rather obvious a no go. I will tack that onto the report for his reevaluation." Hiruzen said sadly. Everyone nodded at that and tried to focus on the map again.

There were many teams setting up camps and spreading their own traps. Glancing over the teams they held personal interest in was showing good signs. Konohamaru and squad was laying siege on a squad of Ame shinobi that didn't have enough time to set their camp properly. They were peppering them with kunai and poison smoke bombs to whittle them down slowly instead of rushing in to charge them head on.

Hinata, Kiba and their squad mate was slowly stalking an unsuspecting Iwa team. Hanabi and her team were leading a team trailing them through trap after trap that Hanabi could see. Fuu and her team were camped out a short way from the tower, waiting.

There was one team that confused them however. Kabuto and his team had plowed straight through an Iwa team that tried to stop with with deadly accuracy and skill. Far beyond what Hiruzen was expecting from their team.

"That troubles me. From all reviews I have about Kabuto and his squadmates, he is a talented medic, but not a talented combatant. He tore through those Iwa shinobi like an experienced chunin. Not to mention, he always seemed rather timid when I saw him in the hospital. Something doesn't add up. Anbu, clear out the Iwa shinobi. They are alive, even if barely." Hiruzen said before going silent.

"I don't like it. He doesn't fight like he has any reservation about ending life. As a medic, there should be something." Naruto said. Tenten nodded and everyone else took another look at him. He was perfectly calm, something was definitely wrong with that. "I will review his record after this stage is complete." Hiruzen said a few moments later, easing everyone's mind.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

The next five days came and went. They had been in that office with someone monitoring the crystal ball through the entire event. Seven people died in the forest coming from four teams. All other wounded were picked up by anbu and taken to the hospital for treatment. Now, Hiruzen, Anko, the fuin-jutsu core, as well as Hiruzen's anbu escort and Hayate Geko stood before the participants that passed the second round.

Hiruzen stepped forward to address those that made it. "Congratulations on all of you that have made it through the second part of these chunin exams. You have brought credibility to your villages strengths by getting this far. However, before the third exam, we will be holding preliminary exams to ensure the best turn out for the grand finals." He said before a few exclimations of 'Unfair' and such rang out.

"Allow me Hokage-sama." Hayate said before stepping forward at Hiruzen's motion to carry on. "I am Hayate Geko, I will be proctor for this preliminary exam as well as the finals. The purpose of these exams is to demonstrate your village's strengths and future to clientele. The finals will be a large spectacle for visiting clients, potential clients, as well as diamyo and other nobles to witness each villages future demonstrate their skills." Hayate started before breaking into a small coughing fit.

"There is more at stake than any of you will understand but you need to understand that more than a promotion is up for grabs. Because so many teams managed to pass the second stage, we will be holding preliminary exams for the purpose of thinning the numbers. Daimyo and other clients will be watching the finals and we will not be wasting their time with anyone other than the best." Hayate said before another coughing fit caught up to him.

"The finals will be a one versus one, single elimination tournament. It will be no holds barred. Fighting will be done until one combatant cannot continue, dies, or I personally call the fight. When the fight is called, no further fighting will be allowed. Those rules will be the same as this preliminary exam. Behind me, we have a monitor that will randomly select names for one on one fights. Winner goes to the finals, loser goes home. Now then, if anyone is too wounded to continue, please say so now." Hayate said.

"I'm going to step out. I don't think I have enough in the tank to make it through. Not exactly a front line fighter anyway." Kabuto said as he was pointed toward the door and walked away with a slight limp. "Anyone else? No, then let's begin." Hayate said as he turned to the monitor.

Everyone turned their attention to the monitor before it start flashing between everyone's name. It finally stopped and Hayate turned back to everyone. Will everyone other than Ino Yamanaka and Yoro Kun please head up to the balcony around the arena and we will start the first round.

Everyone jumped up to the balcony and Hayate quickly stood between both competitors. "Now then, we will start on my signal and end on my signal. Both competitors ready? Begin." Hayate called out after getting two nods before jumping back a ways away.

Both fighters jumped back and reached for their weapon pouches. The shinobi from Taki threw a few shuriken while Ino threw several senbon. The senbon all knocked the shuriken off course before Yoro was forced to dodge the remaining senbon. He tried throwing more shuriken, this time flashing through a few hand seals after the throw.

The shuriken seemed to multiply and Ino merely flared her chakra slightly and swatted three away, the others all phasing through her. "Heh, guess you are good at gen-jutsu. No matter." Yoro said as he started going through more hand seals. Ino just tossed a fist full of senbon and went through the same hand seals Yoro did before.

This time, the number of senbon was far greater. Yoro deflected as many as he saw until he felt a sharp pain in his thigh. He looked down and saw a matte black senbon deep in his thigh. "Fuck." He said as he pulled it out and tossed it aside.

As he turned back to Ino, he saw her finish a string of hand seals. He quickly jumped to the side but nothing happened. He flared his chakra in case of gen-jutsu but didn't notice anything. "Did your jutsu fail?" He asked, starting through a long string of seals himself. Ino just let out a snort before turning toward the staircase going up to the balcony. "Don't turn your back on me!" Yoro yelled before he thrust his hands forward.

Nothing happened but the sudden trust of his hands threw his balance off and he fell forward. He tried to catch himself but he couldn't absorb all of his weight. "Poi." He started saying before he threw up. "Winner is Ino Yamanaka." Hayate said before he waved the medics in to take Yoro away.

"Now then, who is next?" Hayate said as he turned back to the monitor that quit cycling through names a moment later. "Will Kankuro and Misumi Tsurugi please come down." Hayate said. Both contestants jumped down and met in the middle of the arena a moment later after Kankuro laid the bundle on his back against the wall. "Now, begin." Hayate said before jumping away.

Kankuro jumped back a bit but Misumi lunged straight at him. Kankuro blocked the punch Misumi threw but his arm suddenly coiled around Kankuro's arm and he was pulled off balance. Misumi quickly snaked his body around Kankuro's arms and legs before finishing with his head in a headlock. "Surrender or I snap your neck." Misumi said.

"How about, go fuck yourself." Kankuro spat. Misumi obliged and twisted Kankuro's neck until a loud crack was heard. Misumi started to loosen his grip on Kankuro before a pair of arms came out of the side of Kankuro's body and wrapped tightly around his back.

"What?" Misumi yelled before Kankuro's head turned all the way around and faced him. "Surrender or die." Kankuro said before his mouth opened and was filled with obviously poisoned senbon. "I surrender." Misumi said quickly. "Pussy." Kankuro said as he dropped him. He walked over and grabbed the bundle he left leaning on the wall and pulled it back over his shoulders before heading back up to the balcony. "Winner, Kankuro." Hayate said, turning to the board again.

A few moments passed and the board stopped again. "Will Choji Akimichi and Jari please step down." Hayate said as he waited in the center of the arena. "Now then, begin." Hayate said before jumping back. Jari instantly started running through hand seals. "Earth Style, Rock Slide Jutsu." He called out before slamming his hands into the ground.

The floor started to be ground to loose rocks and quickly started heading straight for Choji. Choji just stood his ground and the rock slide stopped a foot in front of him. "What?" Jari asked. Choji just lifted his foot and slammed it into the ground. A small fissure quickly making it's way toward Jari who jumped to the side. Choji pulled his arm back and punched at Jari, his arm over doubling in size and quickly swatting Jari out of the air into the wall.

"Winner, Choji Akimichi." Hayate said. Jari was swiftly taken to the med station as everyone waited for the next fight to be announced. "Will Fuu and Kegon Totchi please enter the arena." Hayate said. "This is bullshit." Kegon yelled as he made his way down. "Let's do out best." Fuu said cheerfully. "Shut the fuck up. I'm going to crush you like the damn bug you are." Kegon yelled again. Hayate just sighed and started the match before jumping back.

Kegon quickly rushed forward and threw a kick at the side of Fuu's head. She threw her arm up to block it and pushed Kegon back. He stumbled a bit and seemed to be favoring his other leg. He ran through seals before shouting. "Water Style, Trumpet Jutsu." Kegon yelled. Fuu quickly dashed to the side and kicked him square in the chin, closing his mouth before the jutsu was completed.

He fell backwards, grabbing his mouth as it started pouring blood. Fuu took her stance again and waited for him to get up. Kegon stood up a moment later and opened a scroll that started spewing a large amount of water then spit out a few teeth before going through a long string of hand seals. "Water Style, Great Waterfall Jutsu." Kegon called out as the water around him started to whirlpool into a large pillar that quickly came down directly over Fuu.

Kegon fell down to one knee and chuckled slightly. "Like a bug." He said before he looked up to see Fuu crouching right in front of him. "That was awesome. You gotta teach me how to do that. Please." She said in rapid fire. "Fucking, demon." Kegon said before he fell face first into the few inches of water that was still on the ground.

Fuu pouted a bit at that before standing up fully. "The winner is Fuu." Hayate called out. "Yeah, I did it." She shouted proudly before Hayate coughed behind her. "Please go back up to the balcony now Fuu." He said politely. "Sure thing mister." Fuu said with a small salute before she jumped to the balcony. 'Odd girl. Strong, but odd.' Hayate thought as he waited for the monitor to chose the next fighters.

"Will Kiba Inuzuka and Kurotsuchi step down." Hayate called. "Yeah, let's go Akamaru." Kiba called as he jumped down. "Ready? Then begin." Kayate called out a moment later. "This will be an easy one Akamaru." Kiba announced as he reached into his pouch and flicked Akamaru a pill. He barely got it out of his hand before a kunai hit it and destroyed it. "What the?" Kiba said out loud before he managed to turn back to his opponent.

Kurotsuchi however was already right on top of him and let out a fierce kick right in between his legs. Kiba barely got his mouth open to scream before his head was being viciously thrust down into the ground. Akamaru had tried to lunge at her but was easily swatted away. Hayate took a few steps forward to confirm Kiba was out cold. "Winner is Kurotsuchi." He called out, waving the med team to come in.

'Still all talk and no bite.' Naruto thought with an internal chuckle. "Will Rock Lee and Kin Tsuchi please step down. "Yosh." Lee yelled from the balcony as he leaped to the center of the arena. Kin followed although quite a bit quieter.

"Now then, begin." Hayate called a moment after they were ready. Lee quickly blurred forward and threw a spinning kick to Kin's side. She managed to get her hands in the way of the kick and push off. She wanted to grab the kick but the force caused her hands to feel numb for a moment. "Damn." She cursed under her breath as she started throwing senbon.

Lee easily dodged them all, the bells making it easier to him. At least, until he heard a loud clang on metal on metal. He looked at his forearm and saw a small hole in his jump suit. On the ground was a senbon without a bell. "Oh, I was becoming focused on the bells not the senbon. I understand." Lee said as he nodded and looked back at his opponent. "You think that is all?" Kin called out as she pulled a few strings attached to her bells.

Lee instantly grabbed his head and started swaying. "Heh, good luck fighting when your world is spinning." Kin said as she readied another salvo of senbon. She tried to hit Lee while he was swaying back and forth but couldn't hit him. Then, out of nowhere, he started giggling.

"Oh no." Gai said up on the balcony. Lee instantly rocketed forward and shoulder charged Kin into the wall behind her. He fell backwards and rolled back to his feet a moment later. Kin crumpled after her weight caused her to fall out of the small crater in the wall from the impact. "The winner is Rock Lee." Hayate called out.

Gai quickly dropped down and planted a firm chop to the back of Lee's neck, knocking him out before tossing him over his shoulder. "Was that necessary Gai?" Hayate asked. Gai just turned to him with a slightly grim expression. "Yes. Yes it was." He said. Hayate sighed a bit before lazily turning back to the monitor.

"Sakura Haruno and Hinata Hyuga please come down." Hayate called out. "Yes, watch me Sasuke-kun." Sakura called out as she jumped down to the arena. "Begin." Hayate called out after Hinata made it to the arena. Sakura jumped back and threw a handful of shuriken before going through a few hand seals. "Gen-jutsu, Haze." Sakura called out.

A clone appeared in front of her before charging Hinata and exploding into a shower of cherry blossoms. Sakura was quick to dive through the cherry blossoms and throw a punch at Hinata but she was waiting for her. As soon as her fist got close, Hinata quickly jabbed her arm twice and delivered a palm to her chest.

Sakura was knocked back and looked at her arm to see it hanging limply by her side. She turned back to Hinata in time to see her charge her with another short flurry of blows. Sakura managed to dodge several but still took a few glancing hits to her other arm and chest. Her breathing was becoming labored and she was having difficulty staying steady.

Hinata stopped her assault and took a step back. Sakura tried to fumble with her weapon pouch but had no strength left in her hands. "I surrender." She said, dropping to her knees and crying softly. Everyone heard Sasuke scoff at her pitiful performance. "Winner is Hinata Hyuga." Hayate breathed out tiredly. He was hoping to get at least one fight that wasn't horribly unbalanced.

"Sasuke Uchiha and Shu Imoda please come down." Hayate called. They both got down there quickly but Hayate could tell it was not going to be a good match. "Begin." He called out anyway a moment later. Shu jumped back and quickly began digging into his weapon pouch.

He unraveled a scroll that quickly unsealed a large net of razor wire. Sasuke easily pulled out his tanto and cut the net to pieces before charging forward. Shu wasn't fast enough to get a kunai into a proper block and Sasuke managed to cut deeply into Shu's forearm and bicep. Shu yelled out in pain and started stumbling backwards. Sasuke moved to follow up and slash again before Hayate stepped in and called the match in Sasuke's favor.

He just scoffed again and walked back up to the balcony. Hayate spared Hiruzen a small glance before waving the medics over. They quickly took Shu to the medical bay and Hayate continued with the preliminary matches. "Will Gaara and Shino Aburame please come down." He called. Ino quickly whispered into his ear and handed him a scroll. Shino nodded and jumped down in front of Hayate.

"Excuse me proctor. In the forest, my team and I acquired this scroll. We have decided this would be the best use of it." Shino said before handing it to Hayate. Hayate quirked an eyebrow but opened it to read it. As he read it, Naruto leaded forward to whisper in Hiruzen's ear.

"Told you they found the best one." Is what he whispered. Hayate finished reading the scroll and turned to Hiruzen. He gave him a small nod and Hayate turned back to everyone. "Shino Aburame has brought me a scroll from a hidden cache in the forest. He is hereby cleared as a victor of these preliminaries and we will roll for a new opponent for Gaara." Hayate called out.

There were a few calls of 'bullshit' but Hayate ignored it. "Zaku Abumi, you have been chosen to fill Shino's spot so please come down." He called a moment later. "Now then, begin." Hayate called out before jumping back a little faster than the previous fights.

Zaku wasted no time in lifting both his arms up and shouting. "Decapitating Airwaves." Before a large blast of air shot from both of his palms. "What an interesting technique." Gaara said flatly, a shield of sand blocking all the damage. "Interesting? Interesting this." He shouted before tossing forward two kunai and using his Decapitating Airwaves justu again.

The blasts propelled the kunai faster and they slammed into the sand shield. They were buried up to their hilts before detonating. Gaara didn't flinch or make any other movements and Zaku started to grind his teeth. Zaku was starting to get a slight tingle in his hands and assumed he burned them a bit with that last attack.

"It's time to just finish this if all you can do is block." Zaku said before chanelling a large amount of chakra into his arms and aiming again. "Zaku don't" His teammate Dosu shouted. "Extreme Decapitating Airwaves." He called out anyway but instantly knew something was wrong. A brief moment later, his arms were shredded from the inside out. He managed to scream for a few seconds before collapsing.

Gaara lazily lifted his hand and pointed it at Zaku. A few acorn sized lumps of sand slowly made their way back to him and into his gourd before he walked back up to the balcony. Hayate was quickly snapped out of his shock on the brutal display and declared Gaara the winner.

Everyone was a bit shocked but no one made comment of it. It was the ninja lifestyle after all. The blood was left on the ground and the next competitors were chosen. "Will Temari and Hitsuboku please come down." Hayate called out. Temari came down, floating gently down on her fan while Hitsuboku crashed to the middle of the arena with a shock wave.

"Begin." Hayate called out before retreating a ways away. Hitsuboku started to go through hand seals but Temari merely whipped her fan around and created a blast of wind. Hitsuboku abandoned his jutsu and tried to dodge but was still took a glancing hit. He landed and looked up to see another blast coming straight for him. He slammed his hands as fast as he could to the ground and a thick earth wall was pulled up in front of him.

The wall started cracking under the pressure but held firm. Hitsuboku barely had time to stand back up before a stronger gust came and destroyed his wall. Debris and blades of wind tore him to shreds before the wall behind him knocked him out. "Winner is Temari." Hayate called out as he waved the medics forward once more.

Temari just smirked and gave Shikamaru a glare before heading back up to the balcony. "Will Yaroi and Dosu step down for the final fight of these preliminaries." Hayate said after the medics were clear. Both contestants took their time walking down the steps. Arrogance evident on both of their faces.

"Now then, the final fight of this preliminary tournament. Begin." Hayate called. Yaroi quickly charged forward and threw a punch at Dosu. Dosu sidestepped and threw a punch of his own. Yaroi grabbed Dosu's hand and his hand started glowing. Dosu squinted a bit at the tactic of absorbing his chakra. He merely swung his other arm up to hit Yaroi in the head. He got his arm up to block it but Dosu's Melody Arm was now exposed.

Yaroi had barely a second to figure out what the metal gauntlet did before Dosu spit a small metal ball out of his mouth to strike the gauntlet. Yaroi let out a yell and started stumbling backwards. Dosu just planted his gauntlet into his face and sent him rocketing backwards into the wall. "Winner is Dosu." Hayate called out, pulling his fingers from his ears at Dosu's last attack.

"Now then, everyone come down and we will explain the final round." Hayate called. Hiruzen stepped forward and placed his hand on Hayate's shoulder. A small nod later and Hayate stepped back to allow Hiruzen to speak.

"All of you have done exceptional to get this far. For this final round, we will need to send messages to your villages and other nobles. Because of this, we will have a month long break before the final round. If anyone would wish to leave the village to return home, you merely have to check out with me. Otherwise, all competitors will be given private access to a training grounds." Hiruzen started.

"These grounds will be sealed to prevent spying. A fuin-jutsu core member will come along with each of you to show you to the grounds as well as set up the seals. This way, you will be alerted should someone break the proximity barrier around your training ground. The penalty for being caught spying is immediate action of being detained to your hotel room and barred from leaving until the day of the finals." Hiruzen explained.

A few people shared a few confused looks but Hiruzen continued. "Now then, please step forward and pull a slip of paper from the box Mitarashi-san is holding. These will be used to determine the order of the final matches." Hiruzen said.

After a few moments, everyone had a slip of paper with a number on it. "Ok, everyone please give your number back to Mitarashi-san and then you will be free to leave the forest of death. I will see you all for the finals in exactly one month. Take care and hone your skill as much as you can. This will be a spectacle that many important people will be watching. Everyone do your best." Hiruzen said before he watched everyone slowly file out.

Leaning over Anko's shoulder, Naruto was grinning ear to ear. 'This is going to be a great tournament. There is no doubt about that.' He thought with a small chuckle once all the competitors were out of ear shot.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

 **Well that is all I got. If you were disappointed by how the fights shook out, you haven't really gotten the vibe of the story. These are how many fights going forward will be going. Several minute long slug fests are not what I am going for.**

 **That said, I do accept that some of the fights were a little lackluster even with that said. Felt like it was just droning going on. Just how the prelims should have gone. They are ninja after all. Not a lot of shit talking, no stupid baiting. Just fighting.**

 **Anyway, hope you all liked it. Also found a way to do both of the things I was wanting to do Brevin. So ha. Will be seeing you all in the next one.**


	24. Chapter 24

**Welcome to the next chapter of Trust By My Side. If you think about reviewing this chapter, please read ending notes. Otherwise, getting straight into it this time. World must be ending, heh, enjoy.**

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After leaving the forest of death, everyone split up with the intention of meeting in the morning at the fuin-jutsu core headquarters. Actually getting to take some time off working was nice after a solid five days. Naruto and Tenten just grabbed a late lunch from a cafe on the way home. They were both sore from being idle for so long.

Shortly after getting home, they both decided training was in order. Up until the sun went down, there was a constant clang of swords hitting swords. Washing the rust away through several hours of sparring, their day went by quick.

Getting a proper rest that night and sparring again that morning they headed out to the headquarters early the next morning. They were all greeted by a slightly downcast looking Lee. "Hey Lee. done training already?" Tenten called out, rushing ahead to meet up with him and let him inside. "Ah, good morning Tenten. I just came to thank you for the advice from before the exams. I, I let my blind faith in camaraderie get another team from our own home get wounded needlessly. I wanted to thank you still. If you hadn't warned me about Sasuke before, I don't know that I would have reacted as fast as I did and manage to save Sakura and Ino." Lee said tamely.

"It was a full combat simulation. Sasuke was out of line and will be taken care of appropriately. That said, you did get a fair bit of respect from Hokage-sama and a few anbu. We watched the fight and were all proud of how you acted. I wouldn't be surprised if after the exams you get recruited into an elite division regardless of promotions." Tenten said trying to cheer him up a bit.

"Really?" Lee asked, slightly confused. "Yup. Just do your best and don't hurt yourself training before the finals. I'm sure you will will sweep the finals, no doubt about it." Tenten said cheerfully. "Thanks Tenten. Would you be able to spar with me a few times during the month break?" Lee asked. "I should be able to. I never heard any rules against it." Tenten said getting a thumbs up from Naruto.

"Great, I will be looking forward to it. I'll let you guys get to work. Take care." Lee said before dashing off to make up a few extra laps around the village to make up for his stop. "He was beating himself up needlessly for what happened. He did everything right as well. I do hope Sasuke's punishment is harsh." Tenten said bitterly.

"It will be. Jiji will make sure of it. I actually need to head that way in a few hours. I need to meet Tenzo and Shisui at the Uchiha compound. We are heading out for three weeks. I believe we will be fairly close to the village so I should be back a few times to check in with Jiji. I will stop by to see how everything is going here before heading back out." Naruto said. Tenten and Shikamaru both nodded.

Teacher came by shortly after it was time to start the day and divided out some work before Naruto had to leave. Making his was to the Uchiha compound after leaving a few clones behind to help for the day, Naruto caught a glimpse of Sasuke leaving and saw Shisui shaking his head at the gate. "Hey Shisui-sama, has Tenzo made it yet?" Naruto called out after a short pause.

"Ah Naruto, little early today. Tenzo should be along soon enough. Are you prepared for at least a week out?" Shisui asked, shaking the last of the emotion of his face. "Yes. I take it your, slightly disheveled appearance is something with Sasuke." Naruto asked cautiously.

"Truly I have been out of the anbu too long. Yes, he is taking his punishment, a little less than calmly. You were with Hokage-sama watching the exams. Was it really as bad as Hokage-sama said. Threw his comrades away like trash?" Shisui asked, defeat evident in his voice.

"Yeah. He almost killed or crippled two more kunoichi. One a teammate, the other a fellow leaf shinobi. In a hostage situation, he used an area of effect lightning jutsu with intent to kill both. I don't think anything outside of solo anbu agent would be possible anymore." Naruto said bitterly remembering it all.

"As I feared. Hopefully anbu will even him out. Anyway, we are going to be training the entire three weeks we have. Hokage-sama wanted us to come by weekly to report in but otherwise we won't be staying during those visits. We are going to push you as far as your body can handle. You will have a week to recover afterwords so don't hold back. Me and Tenzo can both handle if you lose control." Shisui explained.

"I understand. I hope Tenzo gets here soon." Naruto said before a swirl of leaves appeared next to Shisui. "Are we ready to depart?" Tenzo asked a moment after the leaves fell. "Sure thing." Naruto said. "What kept you?" Shisui asked. Tenzo quickly flashed him a few signs and Shisui just nodded.

Naruto quirked his head a bit at that but none the less they left the village. They were only around an hour from the outer walls before they pulled into a small clearing. The clearing was sunken into the ground quite a ways so it would be impossible to see unless you knew what you were looking for.

"All right. This is where we will be training to push you as far as we can in using the Kyuubi's chakra. First, go ahead and meditate and try to make contact with the Kyuubi. You often say he is cooperative so try and get any advice you can." Shisui said. Naruto nodded and quickly sat and meditated.

Over the years, he meditated often and visited the Kyuubi just as often. Finding himself outside the Kyuubi's room, he quickly entered and sat down in the chair that had been there all these years. "Welcome boy. You have come for more advice in controlling my chakra correct?" The Kyuubi said.

"Yes Kyuubi-dono. With two other jinchiriki in the village, I have to be the strongest if one goes berserk." Naruto replied calmly. "You already are the strongest but that's fine. I will repeat myself for the umpteenth time. You should have no problem controlling my chakra. You didn't the last time you pushed yourself, this time will be no different. Get out of here and train." The Kyuubi said flatly.

"I understand. I just want to know how you have so much faith in my skill controlling your chakra." Naruto said as he stood back up. "You have practically grown up in my chakra. From the moment you were born, you were constantly bathed in it. Open that stupid door and remember." The Kyuubi said, tails waving annoyingly.

"I still don't have the power to open it." Naruto said. "Get to eight tails and I will consider telling you." The fox said, closing his eyes. Naruto nodded slowly and gave the same dark door that has been plaguing his curiosity for years a look before vanishing from his mind scape.

"How did it go?" Shisui asked. "The Kyuubi still says I will have no problems. I guess we can only try." Naruto said. Shisui gave Tenzo a nod and he started going through a long series of hand seals. Once finished, he slammed his palms into the ground and several pillars of intricately carved wood were pulled up from the ground. Tenzo sat with his palm facing toward Naruto. Shisui nodded to Naruto and Naruto began to tug on the faint wisp of demonic chakra around the seal on his stomach.

A red cloak slowly emerged over Naruto while tails started appearing behind him. He had practiced getting to five tails every now and again and had no problems getting to it. The slight unease of passing four tails and awakening his second version cloak was quickly surpassed and he stretched himself out and slumped forward and bones started to form outside his body.

His sixth tail fully formed, he looked up to Shisui. "Should I keep going?" Naruto asked, calmly but his voice still distorted. "If you believe your control is starting to slip, stop immediately. Otherwise, go as far as you can." Shisui said. Naruto nodded slowly before pulling harder on the chakra coming from his seal.

The process slowed down drastically after six tails and he felt as though he hit blockage at the seventh tail. Focusing harder and harder, he managed to break through and the flow felt far quicker for a short time. After the seventh tail, Naruto could feel pins and needles all over his body. Not painful enough to warrant quitting but very uncomfortable.

He continued to pull for a few more minutes and an eighth tail started appearing. Naruto curled his back nearly in half, arms folded into his chest. Once the eighth tail fully formed, he threw his arms wide, a shock wave being thrown out for over a hundred feet tearing topsoil apart all around himself.

Shisui instantly activated his mangekyo sharingan and grabbed a suppressing seal. "Naruto can you still hear me?" He called out. "Yeah, unless you want to spar, I have to drop this now." Naruto practically screamed. "Drop it." Shisui called out. Naruto quickly started pushing the chakra down and could feel it go down easier and easier as he got to lower tails.

Once all the chakra was done, Naruto dropped to the ground and rolled to his back, breathing heavily. "How did it feel?" Shisui asked. "Incredibly painful. It felt as if my bones were covered in solidifying lava. That was the worst joint aches sitting still. I feel like the more I would have moved, the easier it would have felt, just the burning would have remained." Naruto said.

"Your chakra output was insane. I can only imagine what the last tail would be like." Shisui said, rubbing the slight stars out of his eyes. Staring into that chakra with is mangekyo active was uncomfortable. "Last tail? You mean that was eight?" Naruto asked. Shisui just nodded. 'Should I figure out what is up with that door now?' Naruto thought before he felt a pull on his mind dragging him into his mind scape.

"Well boy, I did say I would help you figure out that door if you hit eight tails. I honestly thought you would be too scared to get there for a few more months but a deal is a deal. Manipulate the door in front of my cage." The Kyuubi said.

Naruto nodded and manipulated his mind scape to have the door directly in front of the Kyuubi's cage. Naruto looked at the door for a moment before turning to the Kyuubi. "Are you going to?" Naruto started before one of the Kyuubi's tails slipped through the cage and pierced straight through the door. "Ah." Naruto said stupidly.

"That seal was wretched. The chakra it pulled as I destroyed it would have certainly turned you into a simpleton. I am taking a nap. Go in, spread your mind open, and remember. I will wake up in twenty four hours. Speak to me then. Just be sure to keep yourself calm and don't do anything stupid with whatever you learn in there. I don't even know all of what you will find in there." The Kyuubi said, lowering his head and closing his eyes.

Naruto bowed respectfully and took a few calming breaths to shake the uneasy feeling he got from the seal covering the door being destroyed. Stepping into the door, the world turned white and he had to strain his eyes to see.

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"Do you have the boy?" A voice asked. Naruto tried to strain his eyes to see who was talking but everything was blurry. "Yes. Your patience is rewarded." Another voice called. "Excellent. Do you have the seals I requested?" The first voice asked. "Yes." The second voice nearly hissed

"Let us begin." The first man replied as Naruto felt his body being moved roughly. Opening his mind upon entering the door pushed himself directly into the memories. He wasn't watching from the outside, he was experiencing everything. Shortly after the rough movement, bright red covered Naruto's vision.

He could feel burning, but it was all mental and he could persevere. "The first test is a success." Both voices said. Naruto could see two figures nod before his world went black. Questions were coming and going in Naruto's mind but his vision flashed brightly again and he found himself able to stand and see after the lights stopped.

"Status report." A firm voice called out from beyond Naruto's vision range. A man in a blank mask reached forward and opened Naruto's mouth. "Seal has deteriorated. Result is failure." The man called out. "Damn fox burns every seal we put on him. Stick to blur seals. He can be raised loyal the old fashioned way." The man called out. The blank masked man nodded and stuck a tag to the back of Naruto's neck. His vision blurring substantially. The voices continued for a few moments but their voices were muffled.

Naruto's mind quickly turned through hundreds of these encounters. Every time, he couldn't see distinctly and his hearing was distorted. His body going through various movements from running to other exercises. Nearly constantly, his vision was faintly red. Finally after what felt like an eternity, Naruto finally regained clarity. An uncomfortable burning in the back of his neck roused his focus.

"Danzo-sama, tests have come out conclusive. The boy's bones have hardened drastically since my first visit. His heartbeats have become stronger as well. He is becoming very fit for a boy his age however. Something will be discovered easily if he is discovered to have muscle mass. I would recommend." A smooth voice called out.

"Enough. You were brought here for experimentation, not advice Orochimaru." Another voice called. "Touchy, fine then. By the time you get caught, I will be long gone. His chakra flow is absolutely abnormal. All of the work you put to to with this boy is successful but a waste. There is no avoiding detection in a few years when he joins the academy. You know as well as I do that the third will push him to the academy." Orochimaru said.

Naruto was focused directly forward and couldn't move. He could only stare straight ahead. Orochimaru came forward to look Naruto over. "Your concerns are dully noted. Take the blood sample and get out of my lab." Danzo called before a door slammed in the distance. Orochimaru sighed before pulling out a syringe.

"I do hope you can come to forgive me some day Naruto-kun. Being tasked with your mutilation brings me no joy. At current rate, you will be discovered at some point. I am leaving now as well. Do tell Anko-chan that what I did was for her protection. Also, I would be sure not to fight Danzo. Your memories are constantly locked. When you are cut loose, not even a Yamanaka head could dig that info out. Don't die now." Orochimaru said as he held one hands index finger to his lips and drew two vials of blood with the other.

Once done, the burning in the back of his neck vanished and his vision blurred substantially again. He collapsed shortly after, everything going black. A few moments later, his vision came back to it's blurry state and he could hear what sounded like yelling. The next thing he knew he was waking up in the orphanage he remembered before his vision went white once more and he was pushed out of his body.

Recovering, he walked out of the room and closed the door. 'It looks like I was experimented on. When though? It has to have been before I was caught running from the orphanage. How long did that go on? What exactly were they doing?' Naruto thought quickly before he left his mind scape and returned to consciousness.

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"Are you all right Naruto?" Shisui asked a moment after Naruto woke up. "Yeah. Me and Kyuubi-dono had something to do when I broke through to eight tails. Tell me, do you know who Danzo is?" Naruto asked. Shock was evident on both Shisui and Tenzo's faces. "I will take that as a yes." Naruto sighed.

"Danzo is, how to put this. He was a leader of an unofficial anbu. The third hokage shut it down but everyone knows that Danzo wouldn't have quit that easy. He was a candidate for third hokage all those years ago. His morals and interpretation of the will of fire was enough to give the title to Hokage-sama instead." Shisui said slowly.

"He is currently a council member. He is a very sick man though. Why the sudden interest in Danzo?" Shisui asked. "Kyuubi-dono helped me break the seal locking some of my memories just now. They were all of me, very young, being experimented on by Danzo and Orochimaru." Naruto said.

Tenzo and Shisui both shared a look and nodded. "We need to talk to Hokage-sama now. This can't wait." Shisui said before he reached over and grabbed Naruto's shoulder and body flickering towards the village. With his mastery of the body flicker technique, he got Naruto back to the village nearly five times faster than it took them to leave.

Pushing past the receptionist after just enough time to know he wasn't in a meeting, Shisui and Naruto entered. Tenzo was left behind due to the urgency of the matter. "You two are back rather quickly. I take it something has happened." Hiruzen said. Shisui released his mangekyo sharingan and combed the room. He vanished and reappeared with a dead anbu with a blank mask a moment later. Hiruzen waved the rest of his anbu out and sealed the room.

"What is the meaning of all of this. What happened." Hiruzen said firmly. Shisui nodded to Naruto who had backed up a step at seeing the anbu. "I, I. I achieved eight tails transformation and Kyuubi-dono helped me break into a string of memories that had been sealed for as long as I remembered. In it, from a very young age, I was put through experimentation, it appears like they were training me in Kyuubi-dono's chakra. It was led by Orochimaru and Danzo." Naruto barely got out before killing intent was released in a flood by Hiruzen.

"Jiji, calm down. I need to know what it all means." Naruto stuttered out. Hiruzen managed to calm down a bit but was still shaking. "Do, do you know what was done to you Naruto-kun?" Hiruzen asked. "I, don't. The only memories clear enough to understand was a white masked anbu like that one saying that the seal had deteriorated while looking in my mouth. The other was Orochimaru talking to Danzo while the seal they usually had on the back of my neck to keep everything blurry burned." Naruto started.

"Let me see your tongue Naruto." Hiruzen said firmly, standing up to walk to Naruto. Naruto nodded and stuck out his tongue. Hiruzen flashed through a few hand seals and pressed his thumb flatly in the center of his tongue. "Is this the seal Shisui?" Hiruzen asked after taking his thumb off his tongue. "Not complete but no doubt that it is indeed it." Shisui said bitterly.

Hiruzen cursed under his breath as he retook his seat. "What seal Jiji?" Naruto asked, concern evident in his voice. "It was supposed to be a seal Danzo came up with to prevent the bearer from revealing Root secrets. It would be the first step in brain washing a person to force loyalty. I tried to shut Danzo down long ago but he apparently didn't listen." Hiruzen replied tiredly.

"What are you planning to do with this information Hokage-sama?" Shisui asked. "Getting answers. When Orochimaru defected, his labs had test results of a super soldier program. The results were from a subject being pushed through constant chakra expansion, physical conditioning from near birth, and many other horrible things. I never would have assumed it was Naruto all along." Hiruzen said sadly.

After a few moments, he managed to regain his composure. "The notes sounded like he had a collaborator. We never suspected Danzo assisted him." Hiruzen said. "Uhh, Danzo wasn't the collaborator, Orochimaru was in on it against his will. My guess is he was blackmailed by Danzo." Naruto said.

"What?" Hiruzen nearly shouted. "Orochimaru was under Danzo's orders. It seemed Orochimaru suggested stopping when I started developing muscle mass. He made it sound like he was going to be leaving soon. That must be why he deliberately disabled the blur seal on my neck so I would know what was going on if I ever recovered my memories. With the damage Kyuubi-dono took breaking the seal on the memories, he may have never expected it to be broken." Naruto replied quickly.

"You are sure it was that way? Not Orochimaru getting Danzo's assistance?" Hiruzen asked. Naruto just nodded. Hiruzen's head sunk for a moment before he managed to look forward again. "We will take care of it. When we have answers, we will talk again. For now, continue with your training. Train even harder now. Life is going to get very difficult soon. Please be ready." Hiruzen said tiredly. Naruto nodded and Shisui nodded as well as they left.

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They quickly made their way back to the clearing their training was being held. Tenzo was waiting patiently for them to return. "Training is still on then?" Tenzo asked. Naruto and Shisui nodded. "Ehh, Kyuubi-dono took damage from unlocking those memories. He said to talk to him in twenty four hours. I don't think it would be all too smart to mess with his chakra until then." Naruto said after a moment of thought.

"Ok then. What else would you like to learn?" Shisui asked. "I don't suppose you would teach me how to body flicker as well as you?" Naruto asked. "Practice. Practice and having abnormal eyes. Anything else?" Shisui said with the smallest of chuckles. "Got any advanced chakra control exercises?" Naruto asked lamely. "How advanced?" Shisui asked.

"Close to medic-nin level. I guess mostly just need to start advanced elemental manipulation." Naruto thought slowly. "Hmm, what element do you want to learn?" Shisui asked. "If I had to pick? All of them? Starting with just one. Either wind or fire. I am already pretty advanced with earth and water and they aren't primary affinities." Naruto replied.

"With shadow clones, might as well learn all four of them. Tenzo can teach two what he knows about water and earth and I can teach you and a clone about wind and fire. Wind is your primary affinity correct? I suppose the real you should learn wind then." Shisui explained.

"Well, fire comes from Kyuubi-dono's chakra. If a clone does fire style, it is weakened considerably. I think I should learn fire and a clone can do wind." Naruto replied after a brief moment of thought. "Really now? Can't say that is something anyone else has ever experienced. All right. We will do it that way. Tenzo, get the clones started on your, special, training." Shisui said with a smirk. Tenzo nodded as Naruto made three clones.

Two went a bit away with Tenzo and the other stayed with Shisui. "Well now, how far along are you with wind and fire?" Shisui asked. "Good, but not great. They are my primary affinities but I never really focused on them. I would say a bit better than required for graduation from the academy. For primary affinities at least." Naruto replied, scratching the back of his head.

"Well, primary affinities should come more natural than others. Focusing on secondary affinities was a good call as well. Your growth will come easier while still young. Anyway, do you know any jutsu?" Shisui asked. "Of course. I know at least a few d and c rank jutsu of every element other than lightning. Don't know anything past b-rank aside from water and earth." Naruto listed off.

"That is still quite good. Knowing a little of everything will serve you much better than being narrow. Let's get you started with more advanced elemental training for today. You can continue this training in our downtime." Shisui said. Naruto nodded they begun training.

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Twenty four hours had passed and Naruto made his way into his mind scape. He sat in front of the Kyuubi's cage patiently as he started to stir. "Back in exactly twenty four hours I see. Did you get the answers you wanted?" The Kyuubi asked.

"Well, I at least know what went on in that blank period. Don't have enough details however." Naruto said. "It would take far too long to give you all the details. All I will say is I want Danzo dead. He dares treat you as a weapon and by extension me. This kind of human stupidity is at least ninety percent of why my kind attacks humans. Greed and a severe lack of understanding." The Kyuubi said.

"If the feeling I got from Jiji is anything to go by, Danzo will most likely be executed. I am curious though. You want Danzo dead, but not Orochimaru?" Naruto asked. "The snake sannin at least has intelligence. The understanding that I was a sentient creature sealed inside a human. Not a mass of chakra to throw at your village's enemies." The Kyuubi said, tails waving slightly.

"So Orochimaru never referred to you as anything less than sentient? That goes against his character quite a bit as far as I know." Naruto said, slightly confused. "He is still a rather twisted individual from what I gathered. Just not insufferably narrow minded like Danzo." The Kyuubi replied.

"Odd, anyway. Were you able to tell exactly what they were trying to accomplish by experimenting on me?" Naruto asked. "Some kind of super soldier from what I gathered. I imagine with the seal they tried to put on you several times, you would have been loyal only to Danzo. Not something I would tolerate." The Kyuubi said thoughtfully.

"I still remember how much Danzo had been hated in the past. He should have been put down many years ago." The Kyuubi said. "I am starting to agree. He will be sentenced to death, I am sure of it." Naruto said. "Good riddance. Probably want to tell your hokage to expect more mindless drones after he falls. He did good work with Tenzo, might actually have a specialized anbu division after the dust falls." The Kyuubi said.

"Tenzo?" Naruto asked. "Guess that is probably confidential. Tenzo used to be one of Danzo's drones. He was taken out while still fairly young. What it looks like, he has Hashirama's cells in him. Probably one of Danzo's experiments." The Kyuubi said. Naruto just nodded.

"Anyway, go crazy with training. I doubt you can push through to nine tails, but mastering at least seven should be easy enough. That should put your power immeasurably higher than you currently are. I would put the Taki girl as a far lesser threat than the Suna boy. His chakra flow was far too even for what the Ichibi tends to do to his hosts. That means his control is high." The Kyuubi explained. Naruto nodded before leaving his mind scape.

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Their full three weeks of training in the Kyuubi's chakra was finally complete. Naruto had full confidence that he could maintain six tails of chakra with minimal side effects while seven tails was useable in strictly combat situations.

Aside from that, he learned a good bit more about elemental chakra manipulation. Tenzo had been teaching clones his own training methods that were almost wood release. Naruto know he realistically wouldn't be able to learn wood release, but the training methods were good. His wind and fire manipulation went up a level from what he previously knew and could keep training that way for years.

He made it home quite late and decided to go straight to the hot spring in the compound. Hiruzen had told him Jiraiya would be waiting for him at the hospital tomorrow morning. With nothing else to do for the night, he soaked in the hot spring.

He was about to get out when he heard the front gate open and close. 'Tenten must be back.' Naruto thought idly as he got out and rinsed off. Getting into a clean set of clothes, he made his way inside. Tenten gave him a cheerful wave as she grabbed a bit more food out of the fridge. "Too sore to stop by the headquarters and say hi?" She called to Naruto who was going towards the couch in the living room.

"Have to meet with Jiraiya-sama in the morning so figured I better relax while I can. What have I missed in the last few weeks? Training wasn't as relaxed as I guessed so wasn't able to stop by at all." Naruto called back.

"Not a lot. That Taki girl was looking for you like a lost puppy. If I hadn't known you for so long, I would think you did something indecent in that tent to get her to like you so much." Tenten said with a laugh. "Pfft. Not exactly sure myself. I said I would talk to her after the exams about the bijuu but don't remember saying I was a jinchuriki myself." Naruto said thoughtfully.

"I hope she didn't ask her sensei and get punished or something." Naruto said a moment later. "Well, she said her team wasn't training with her at all so maybe?" Tenten said. "Well she did embarrass one of them in the prelims. That guy definitely knew she was a jinchuriki." Naruto said bitterly.

"She stopped by every few days. She is nice at least." Tenten said with a shrug. "Yeah, she is also odd. Well, I guess I will talk to her whenever I catch her. Jiraiya-sama is loosening my seal tomorrow so I am going to be on light duty. Probably going to spend the week finishing the stupid seal so I can talk to my shadow clones. Put that off way too much for how simple it should be." Naruto sighed.

"You will get it so relax. I sparred with Lee a few times this month. The seal I made for him is entirely too effective. He can nearly hold the first gate indefinitely with the healing it gives him. The side effects are really narrow. Nothing a basic hospital visit wouldn't fix." Tenten said as she brought dinner out of the kitchen.

Naruto got up to the dining room to start eating. "Well good. I know who I am betting on then." Naruto said with a laugh. "Well, we aren't supposed to bet since we are pretty much proctors. But, I am sure Konohamaru would place a few bets for us." Tenten said with a grin.

"Did you hear why he didn't make it to the finals?" Naruto asked. "He said his team was camped out front for the last day to pick off some foreign shinobi. Unlucky that the doors locked a day early on him. They had both scrolls as well." Tenten said. "Poor Kono. Moegi was probably pretty upset." Naruto said with a chuckle.

They caught up a bit over diner and some downtime after. Naruto headed to bed early to make sure he was as rested as he could for the morning. Tenten would join him a few hours later after finishing out an order she had.

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Naruto made it to the hospital bright and early to meet with a waiting Jiraiya. Jiraiya quickly waved him into the hospital and they made their way to the back. The amount of staff around was becoming less and less until they reached the end of a hallway.

Stepping into the last room, Naruto was ushered to stand against a wall. "Naruto, this is my teammate Tsunade Senju. Best damn combat medic in these elemental nations." Jiraiya said boisterously. "Can it Jiraiya. Sensei asked me to do a few favors and that's it. Stand up straight against the wall kid." Tsunade said sharply.

Naruto nodded and stood straight. Tsunade marked down his height and moved him over to a scale. Naruto stripped off his gear and got his weight taken. "Good, sit on the bed. We are drawing several blood samples. Also going to run a few diagnostic jutsu over you." Tsunade said as she prepared a few needles.

Naruto nodded and quickly complied. "Come now Tsunade-chan. Why don't you talk to the kid a bit. You two are practically cousins." Jiraiya said cheerfully. "Yeah yeah. I didn't come back for any reunions Jiraiya. Between you begging and sensei asking nicely, I am back for a bit and that's it. Not here to make new friends." Tsunade said bitterly as she took a few vials of blood from Naruto.

Naruto decided to keep his mouth shut after seeing how violently she took his blood. She was not happy and he wasn't about to turn a sanin's anger on himself. "Fine fine. Maybe after the chunin exams you could stay a while. Sensei has been wanting you to take back over the hospital for some time now. He is even trying to get more kids to take medical nin-jutsu classes. Last year had a few potential standouts but they were more interested in other fields. With you back, they would be flocking to learn." Jiraiya said.

"Of course. Kid you just graduated right? How many kids focused on medical nin-jutsu?" Tsunade asked as she prepared her diagnostic jutsu. "Focused? I think maybe one. We had probably six or seven more learn it as a secondary. Though, I think at least two of those was for poison knowledge." Naruto said.

"Just one? The hell? Were they even any good?" Tsunade asked. "The one, I don't think so. My teammate Tenten has the medical knowledge way better than her but uses that knowledge for fuin-jutsu more than iryo-jutsu." Naruto said after some though. "Fuin-jutsu? Ehh, me and Jiraiya kicked the prospect around when we were young. Still, no combat medics in an entire graduating class. Disappointing." Tsunade said with frown.

"Well, Tenten would have been closest in our class. She learned it all outside the academy though. More anbu medic styled training than actual medic-nin training." Naruto said. "Did they even have an iryo-jutsu class in the academy theselast few years?" Tsunade asked. "I, don't think so actually. I think the girl that graduated with iryo-jutsu as her primary apprenticed in the hospital on weekends." Naruto said. "That's fucked. At least going to chew out sensei and whoever is in charge of this shit before I leave. Whatever, last test. I need you to circulate your chakra from your head, through your limbs, and back up a few times." Tsunade said.

Naruto nodded as Tsunade placed her hand on his chest with her diagnostic jutsu active again. A few moments later she stopped. "You got damn good control for your reserves kid. If your reserves were smaller you could have been one of the best medics around. Shame really." Tsunade said as she wrote down the results.

"Welp, you are healthy as you could be. Whatever you gotta do go for it. There have been no negative side effects whatsoever." Tsunade said. "Well, you heard her kid. Let's get outside the walls and loosen your seal again. Tell me about your training on the way out." Jiraiya said, heading toward the door.

"Sure thing. Thank you for your time Tsunade-sama." Naruto said with a bow as he followed Jiraiya out. "Yeah yeah kid." Tsunade said with a half assed wave. 'Kid must train his ass off. Oh well. Better get the results to Sensei and then tell him off about this lack of medical ninja coming from the academy.' Tsunade thought as she left for the hokage tower.

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"Really, mastered six tails huh. Loosening the seal a bit more should make that even easier. Heh, you are going to sweep the competition for sure." Jiraiya said eagerly. "Uhh, we are already chunin Jiraiya-sama." Naruto said causing Jiraiya to stop dead in his tracks. "What? Tsuande is going to kill me. I told her I knew of a ringer in the exams. Guaranteed to win. Oh hell, she is going to flip. She came here almost exclusively to gamble on the exams." Jiraiya said as he started looking around in a panic.

"You need a ringer? Rock Lee, problem solved." Naruto said quickly. "Rock Lee. Is that the bowl cut green kid? He that good?" Jiraiya asked, raking his memory for the kid. "Yeah, Tenten put the experimental seal she came up with on him like almost six months ago. He has been training Maito Gai since. Tenten said he can maintain the first gate for a long period of time with minimal backlash." Naruto said with a grin.

"First gate? No shit? Ringer found thank god. Have you seen him fight?" Jiraiya asked. "Me? No. Tenten said even with almost three hundred pounds a leg he is still faster than her at full strength. Tenten was also always the fastest in our class so." Naruto said slowly. "Damn, kid's a tai-jutsu monster then. Especially if he has been following Gai for a while. Guess I am out of the woods then." Jiraiya said with a shrug.

"You shook that off pretty fast." Naruto observed. "Eh, crisis averted, no more fear of death, I'm good. Let's loosen this seal a bit kid." Jiraiya said as he squatted down a bit to look over Naruto's seal. He summoned the toad that watched over the key and slowly loosened the seal until Naruto waved at him to stop.

"That's quite a difference kid. You sure you want it there?" Jiraiya asked. "Yeah, probably what, twenty percent total now? Should be fine. Going to be sore as hell tonight but should be able to shake it off within a week." Naruto said. "Good, rest up. Fuin-jutsu core is going to be watching the walls in case of stray jutsu. The barrier is already built, you just have to have the chakra control back to watch it. You will be guarding Sensei and the visiting Kage so be in top form." Jiraiya said with a wave as he vanished.

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A few days later, Naruto was called upstairs of the fuin-jutsu core headquarters by Teacher. "Oh hey Fuu." Naruto called out when he got around the corner. "Hello. Fuu found you. Now you want to talk about the bijuu right?" Fuu said cheerfully. "Ahh, sure. Come on in." Naruto said, waving her to the meeting room. He subtly activated a privacy seal under the table so no one would hear out of the room.

"As I told you before, there are nine bijuu. When one is sealed into a person, they are called a jinchuriki. You are from Taki so you must have the seven tailed beast sealed in you. As a whole, this is not a bad thing. People just tend to not understand that you are not the bijuu you contain." Naruto said.

"So Fuu has a bijuu in her?" Fuu asked. "I am quite certain yes. Have you even noticed a seal appear on your body when you channel chakra?" Naruto asked. "Oh yeah, on my stomach. That is what that was. Fuu always thought it looked neat." Fuu said, looking down at her stomach. Naruto watched as she channeled some chakra and a seal appeared.

"That is the seal holding your bijuu back. Have you ever heard your bijuu talk before?" Naruto asked. "Bijuu can talk? Fuu heard someone talking to her every now and again. The voice seemed nice. Said Fuu was a very lucky girl. Seven is a lucky number." Fuu said. "That would be the seven tails. They seem nice." Naruto said with a smile.

He quirked his head a bit as he saw Shino come up from downstairs. He had came in early today to stock up on one of his latest seals he completed. Naruto waved Shino into the room. "What's up Shino?" Naruto asked when he was inside the privacy barrier.

"My bugs started to stir making concentrating impossible. They have been pulling me up here for a few moments." Shino said. "Ooh, you have bugs? Fuu likes bugs. Can Fuu see?" Fuu said as she turned to look at Shino. Shino's eyes narrowed a bit as a few bugs started to slip out of his sleeves. "That is most unusual." Shino muttered.

"Fuu has, well, a rather unique affinity for bugs it appears." Naruto said nervously. Fuu was giggling as Shino's kikkaichu beetles were practically dancing along her arm crawling toward her stomach. "It tickles." Fuu cried out. Shino narrowed his eyes even further when they got closer to her stomach. "I have completely lost connection to those beetles. They are beyond my control at this point." He said.

"Fuu, Shino's beetles are nice right? You should give them back so we can keep talking." Naruto said. "Sure." Fuu said, still giggling. She carefully scooped the beetles up and handed them back towards Shino. Shino carefully picked them into his hand and commanded them back into his sleeve. His face twisted painfully for a few moments before he asked Naruto to come downstairs for a moment.

"I'll be right back Fuu." Naruto said as he rushed downstairs with Shino. He quickly activated the privacy seals downstairs as Shino ripped his coat off. Deep red marks were appearing in Shino's arms. "The beetles are practically leaking chakra back into my system. It is burning my chakra coils." Shino hissed out. "Ah shit." Naruto said as he grabbed Shino's arm. "Force them on me." He said.

A few beetles rushed out of Shino's body and quickly latched onto Naruto. "No kidding, that is some dangerous stuff." Naruto said as he gritted his teeth a bit as they started trying to drain his chakra as well, mixing the two demonic chakras. "What is that? Was that her chakra?" Shino asked as he managed to calm down. "Yeah. She is a jinchuriki just like me. Her demon is a rhinoceros beetle. I didn't think your beetles would actually draw chakra directly from her seal. At the very least not enough to cause you any harm." Naruto said.

"There is still quite a bit of her chakra in my arm." Shino said. Naruto pulled a tag from his pocket and applied it to Shino's arm. A moment later, Shino sighed in relief. "That is bijuu chakra? My beetles were flocking to her. It took near constant effort to resist the pull of her chakra." Shino said. "Yeah, it seems like she has a magnetic nature to her when it comes to bugs. These beetles are very likely going to cause problems for you after absorbing her chakra and now mine. Mine is far more corrosive than her." Naruto advised. Shino just nodded.

Naruto quickly swatted his hand down, squishing the few beetles on his arm. "Sorry about that Shino. Go have Tenten take a look at your arm. She should be able to fix you up a bit. She has a bit of experience with demonic chakra burns at least." Naruto said. Shino nodded in understanding and went to visit with Tenten.

Naruto wiped his arm off and went back upstairs to talk to Fuu again. "You have nine right?" Fuu said when Naruto came back in. "Eh, yeah." Naruto said hesitantly. "Fuu's friend was right. You are like Fuu. That means we are friends, right?" Fuu said happily. "Sure, us jinchuriki have to stick together. Though, please keep my identity as a jinchuriki a secret." Naruto said with a concerned smile. "Hmm, ok." Fuu said with a smile.

"Great. Fuu, I do need to get back to work. It is good you are friends with the bijuu inside of you. You will no doubt need to train with them some day. I believe you will do great. Make sure to come by and visit a bit after the finals. I'll be rooting for you in the finals." Naruto said with a smile as he got up. "Sure thing. Fuu will see you later Naruto." She said as she threw her arms around him in a bear hug. "See ya later Fuu." Naruto said as she quickly left.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Just a few more days passed and the chunin exams finals were minutes away from starting up. Everyone was present and lining up in the center of the arena. Shisui Uchiha stood before the chunin hopefuls awaiting Hiruzen's opening announcement. Glancing up in the kage's box, he was watching Hiruzen welcome the kages from Iwa and Suna as well as a woman from Oto. Each had two body guards with them. He could recognize the two from Suna easy enough. Iwa was what worried him. 'Roshi. Iwa brought a jinchuriki and an old one at that. This does not sit right with me. The other one is new to me. If he is a jinchuriki replacing Han, Iwa came for more than the exams.' Shisui thought.

After Hiruzen greeted both visiting kage, he turned to the new woman. "It is good to meet you Fuma-sama. I do hope your trip went well." Hiruzen greeted. "Yes, thank you for your hospitality Hokage-dono. It is an honor to be invited up to the kage box for these exams." The woman replied. "Who is this Hokage-sama?" The Kazekage asked.

"This is Lady Kagero Fuma. Current leader of the Fuma clan and village leader of Otogakure." Hiruzen explained. "It is nice to meet you Lady Kagero. I will be looking forward to farther conversations after these exams. For now, we really shouldn't keep the people for much longer." The kazekage said, nodding to Hiruzen. Hiruzen motioned for everyone to be seated and stepped to the balcony.

"Welcome all to this final round of the chunin exams hosted by Konohagakure. These exams have been fierce, the competitors strong, and the final round promises a grand spectacle. I do hope all visitors have found their accommodations acceptable and I wish our competitors the best of luck. You will all fight with the pride of your village on your back. I believe each and every one of you will have an impact on the future of our world. Now then, Shisui, if you would please announce the order of the final fights to our competitors. We will formally begin this chunin exam final round." Hiruzen said, boosting his voice with chakra.

A loud cheer rang out from the crowd as Shisui held up a simple hand seal and the wall behind him lit up with a bracket. "Now then. I am your proctor for this final round. My name is Shisui Uchiha. Winner is the last man or woman standing. There are no rules outside of my word is law. If I call a match, any further attacks will be dealt with by me with extreme prejudice. Behind me, each match will be shown as the previous match ends. First round will be." Shisui said, his usually lax nature hidden well as he turned to the screen behind him.

The screen behind him zoomed in on the top two boxes. "Sabaku no Temari of Suna and Shino Aburame of Konoha. Both competitors please step forward and step to one side of me. Everyone else, please follow the stairs behind you up to the competitors booth and await your match." Shisui called out. A round of cheers came from the arena at the first round being announced.

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 **Gotta shout out for his review all the way back in chapter 9 for calling a bit of this chapter. Was like two years ago but my god I wanted to spoil the hell out of that the whole way.**

 **Anyway, personal drama and such really makes me feel like this chapter was rather sub-par. If someone that has followed the story for a while would mind PMing me thoughts on the quality of the chapter I would appreciate it. Will probably be without internet for a few months shortly after I post this chapter. Feels like I am rushing because of that.**

 **Another thing to point out, I am getting to the point where characters I am using have little to no backstory. For these characters, I will be using what info I can find and building from there. I am sure someone will eventually think, 'This character is not that strong in canon.'. Truth of the matter is, they might not be but I needed say a jonin and they seemed to easiest to work with.**

 **Obvious example is Kagero. I have zero idea how strong she is in canon. Her info was next to none but she is filling a role I need. Since she is sitting in the kage box, you can imagine she is not a chunin or whatever she is in canon.**

 **I will be creating tons of throw away characters but some will need to have an impact in some way or another. Even if the impact isn't obvious, it still has the potential to be there. Anyway, see you all in the next one.**


	25. Chapter 25

**Hey everyone, I want to thank you all for the 300 reviews on the story. That feels like a huge milestone to me and feels great. Watching the milestones goes by is amazing.**

 **Admittedly, this chapter is a bit short but that is to just keep the story flowing how I want it. Won't make sense here but don't want chop the next chapter in half. Either that or I post one stupid long chapter and I'd rather not get more people bitching the chapters are too long. Anyway, rambling over, let's get to it.**

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"Begin." Shisui called out, dropping his hand down between the contestants and vanishing. Shino jumped straight backwards to gain distance as Temari unfolded her fan and swung it. A large gust rolled through the arena picking up pieces of the terrain along the way. Shino cut right and dodged the gust and flung out a pair of kunai.

Temari swiped her hand in front of her and a small blade of wind collided with the kunai causing them to drop ten feet in front of her. She looked back up and saw more kunai and shuriken coming at her. She swept her fan in front of her blowing them all away. She stood smugly with a smirk that could be seen from the back rows as she waved Shino on.

Shino shook his head a bit and threw a kunai at Temari sloppily. Temari shook her head at the pitiful display and went to smack the kunai with her now folded up fan. Shino had chickened out and got a free pass into the finals. He seemed to have no counter to her wind so it might as well be a free win. As soon as it made contact, it burst into a dense purple fog. Temari gasped slightly at the surprise of the fog and opened her fan to blow the fog towards Shino.

Shino made a hand seal and concentrated. A barely visible wall appeared a few feet in front of Temari causing the fog to be blown sideways. She started jumping backwards as the fog didn't get as far away as she wanted. From the fog came dozens of kunai. Temari was forced to dodge and block with her fan as she started coughing.

The rain of kunai stopped and Temari managed to see Shino in the same spot she last saw him. He held up another hand seal and Temari screamed out in pain as lightning arced all over her body. Several beetles flew away from her and went back into Shino's sleeves. She dropped to one knee and soon felt a kunai placed to the back of her neck. She shuttered for a moment wondering if she was going to die here. She tried to sigh but ended up coughing when she saw Shisui appear.

Shisui appeared next to Shino and gave a grand wave to the crowd. "Winner of the first round, Shino Aburame of Konoha." Shisui announced. "You do have the antidote on you right?" Shisui asked quietly. Shino nodded and slipped Shisui a small blue vial. Shisui nodded and pointed Shino back up to the waiting room.

The med team came in and started taking Temari away for minor injuries, possible nerve damage and poison inhalation. Shisui was sure to give the vial to the nurse and walk back to the center of the arena.

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"Rather impressed the kid did so well. Made a little off him too." Jiraiya said with a small laugh. "You bet on the Aburame? Know him or something?" Tsunade said impatiently, hoping Jiraiya's ringer would dig her out of the hole she was already in. "Yeah, he might not be a regular but he swings by the fuin-jutsu core every know and again. Kid has talent, glad to see his tags did work on such a large arena." Jiraiya said with a nod.

"Pfft, know anyone else?" Tsunade asked, glancing down at bets she could still make. "I believe the Yamanaka and Akimichi are on the kid's team. Can't see the Yamanaka losing her match. Akimichi though, I hope the poor kid makes it out ok." Jiraiya said somberly.

"Makes it out ok? Something I should know?" Tsunade asked, double checking her card. "Maybe when the exams are over, Shisui is ready for the next round." Jiraiya said, turning to the arena. Tsunade narrowed her eyes a bit before turning as well. She already had her next two rounds bet on, she just needed to remember to bet after she squeezed more info out of Jiraiya.

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After letting the cheering calm down a bit, Shisui announced they were ready for the next round. The screen came back up and Rock Lee and Fuu appeared. "Will Rock Lee of Konoha and Fuu of Taki please come forward." Shisui announced. Lee jumped over the wall straight down to the arena. An action quickly followed by Fuu.

'They seem energetic.' Shisui mused before he stepped next to them. "Are you both ready? Then, begin." Shisui announced, once more vanishing after getting nods from both contestants. Lee dropped back into his stance and Fuu did a moment later. "Let us have a good match Fuu." Lee said joyfully. "Yes, Fuu agrees." Fuu replied before kicking off the ground and launching herself at Lee.

Lee nodded slightly and brought his arm up to block the punch she threw. Lee slid back a bit and opened his eyes wide at the force of the blow. He got his feet to stop sliding and dashed to the side to dodge the next punch as he swung his leg out and caught Fuu's stomach and sent her flying.

"Wow, you hit a lot harder than Fuu." Fuu said as she charged in again. Lee smiled as he saw Fuu was smiling as well. They exchanged blows for a bit before Fuu managed to land a solid hit on Lee and knock him back. Fuu quickly grabbed a scroll from her side and unfurled it. A large amount of water flooded out as Fuu went through hand seals. "Check this out." Fuu said energetically.

"Water Style: Great Waterfall Jutsu." Fuu called as the water quickly swirled around from the entire wet area and was directed up before crashing down on Lee. Lee barely managed to get his feet back on solid ground before dodging away from the crashing waterfall and land a safe distance away. "No fair, you managed to dodge." Fuu pouted. "I am sorry Fuu, but that would have hurt." Lee said with a small grin.

Fuu just stomped her foot once and then charged at Lee again. She was slowly getting faster and faster and Lee was starting to struggle to keep up. Faint wisps of chakra was starting to roll off Fuu as she started more hand seals. "Scale Powder Jutsu." Fuu called out as a large amount of bright white powder billowed out of her mouth and quickly surrounded Lee.

"Lee, take em off and get out of there." Gai called loudly. Lee didn't think twice about it and quickly unlatched his weights from his legs, deactivated his resistance seals, and bolted to the edge of the arena. Not a second later, an explosive note went off and detonated the entire cloud of powder.

Naruto, Tenten, Shikamaru and Teacher all had to activate the protection seals so the heat wouldn't singe people's hair in the front few rows. 'That was excessive.' Naruto sighed. The dust started settling and Fuu realized she missed.

"No fair, why can't Fuu hit you. You are too fast." Fuu cried out. "Sorry Fuu." Lee said sincerely. "Fuu quits, you are no fun to fight against. I can't win if I can't hit you." Fuu said as she turned to leave the arena as a whole. "Winner by forfeit, Rock Lee of Konoha." Shisui said as he appeared in the center of the arena once more. The crowd cheered, although a little weakly. Lee was slightly disappointed but this meant no one really saw his top speed.

He went to grab his weights but they were completely destroyed. Instead, he walked up the stairs to not give away his speed. It was odd walking slowly without his weights, he decided he could turn his resistance seal up a bit to compensate before his next match.

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"Well damn, kid is fast." Tsunade said in the stands. "Told ya. He has seals similar to what we wanted to do all those years ago. They regenerate his muscles and help him train harder. He trains under Maito Gai to put that into perspective as to how much he trains." Jiraiya said with a chuckle. "Gai is still kicking huh. He must be the fastest person in the Land of Fire at this point." Tsunade said with a sigh.

"Probably. He has an S-rank avoid engagement entry in the bingo book for just about everywhere. The entry doesn't take into account the gates though. Rumor has it, he can open seven." Jiraiya said ominously. "Seven my ass. I can barely open six and I can heal myself as I do it. No way Gai can get that far. He would be torn to shreds." Tsunade said.

Jiraiya just shrugged and turned back to the arena. Tsunade looked at him for a moment, looking like she wanted to keep arguing, but decided to drop it and resume watching.

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"We will now begin the third round." Shisui said after the small amount of cheering died down. The screen came back to life and the names, Kurotsuchi and Kankuro. "Will Kurotsuchi Kamizuru of Iwa and Sabaku no Kankuro of Suna please come forward." Shisui announced. Both of them quickly made their way down the stairs and stood opposite each other. Kankuro forgoing keeping himself wrapped in a bundle like he did in the prelims. Instead, he had Crow on his back, open and ready for combat.

"All right, both contestants ready? Begin." Shisui called out before vanishing once more. Kankuro twitched a finger and a senbon flew from Crow's mouth. Kurotsuchi easily dodged and flipped through a few hand seals and spat several mud balls at Kankuro from the close range they were still in.

Kankuro managed to dodge easy enough and charged sideways as the threw Crow forward at Kurotsuchi. A blade flipped out from one of it's palms, poison obvious on the tip of the blade. Kurotsuchi batted the arm to the side with her hand and jumped back placing a hand on the ground. She made a hand seal with her other hand and clenched her other fist. Rocks surrounded her hand as she quickly grabbed the wrist of Crow as it came back in and shattered the joint.

She threw a punch toward Kankuro and the rock gauntlet rocketed off her hand straight towards Kankuro's stomach. Kankuro managed to dodge before seeing Kurotsuchi flip through more hand seals. "Lava Style: Quicklime Congealing Jutsu" Kurotsuchi called as a large glob of white quicklime shot from her mouth right where Kankuro's hand was going to land.

It hit and covered Kankuro's forearm down in the quicklime. "Water Style: Trumpet." Kurotsuchi quickly called. Before it hit, Kankuro substituted himself with Crow leaving the puppet arm deep in what was now cement. Crow quickly released his forearm and left it in the cement. Kankuro twitched another finger and the once broken hand of Crow shot towards Kurotsuchi's back. She flipped to the side and started going through more hand seals.

"Lava Style: Ash Stone Seal Jutsu." Kurotsuchi called out as a thick cloud of ash spread straight for Crow. Kankuro tried to pull him back but was too slow. Line of sight and movement were nearly non-existent in the cloud and before Kankuro could attempt to pull Crow out or grab a different puppet, he caught a glimpse of her to his left. He tried to move but found a kunai thrust into his lower back, missing his spine by barely anything.

Kankuro managed to stagger forward a step before his blood ran cold at the sound of hissing. He barely managed to catch sight of the paper bomb wrapped around the kunai before it was violently ripped out of him and tossed into the air by Shisui. Kurotsuchi frowned slightly as she dropped the hand seal she used to activate the tag.

"Winner is Kurotsuchi Kamizuru of Iwa." Shisui called out. Kurotsuchi turned on her heel and walked back up the stairs to the waiting area. Kankuro was quickly rushed to the med bay as Baki quickly recovered Crow.

In the kage booth, the Kazekage tapped his fingers a few times on the armrest of his chair. Hiruzen held back a frown himself at the Tsuchikage's granddaughter's actions. Killing was allowed, but that more protection against accidental deaths. She was not going to lose the fight after that blow. Activating the tag was a blatant assassination attempt. Rules were rules however.

Shisui wasted no time once Kankuro left to turn to the next two contestants appearing on the screen. "Will Hinata Hyuga of Konoha and Ino Yamanaka of Konoha please come forward." He called out. The cheers for the two heiresses were loud as they made their way down to the arena.

Both gave a respectful nod to each other to confirm they were ready. "Begin." Shisui called as he vanished. Hinata charged forward to get in close range as Ino jumped back and started throwing senbon. Hinata swatted them all away as she started getting closer to Ino. Ino made three quick seals and spat a small glob of water in front of herself.

"Water Style: Reflective Plane." She called before swiping her hands up and down causing the glob of water to become a pane of reflective water. Hinata stopped a moment as the pure pane of chakra caused her Byakugan to lose sight of Ino and made her eyes sting slightly. Several senbon quickly passed through the wall of water forcing Hinata to dodge sharply as she couldn't see Ino throw them.

Ino jumped the same way, already going through hand seals again. She pointed her hand back to the water from her last jutsu and it quickly gathered in her hand in the form of a whip and shot towards Hinata's outstretched arm. It wrapped around her elbow and Ino pulled sharply. The arm that was going to catch Hinata suddenly yanked the wrong way caused Hinata to land harshly from her quick leap sideways.

Ino quickly capitalized by tossing a fist full of senbon that all pierced Hinata in the shoulders. Several pressure points were hit causing Hinata's arms to sag as she got to her feet. "Hinata, those were all poisoned. Please surrender so I can give you the antidote." Ino said. "I can't give up." Hinata said bitterly as she charged Ino again, a little sloppily.

'The poison is already affecting her this much. This is bad.' Ino thought as she dodged the quick strikes Hinata was throwing at her. Her speed was quickly dropping and Ino waited for the best chance before she quickly grabbed Hinata's overextended arm and threw her hard onto the ground. Ino quickly pushed a pill into Hinata's mouth and forced it down her throat with a burst of chakra as she gasped for air from the impact.

Ino put a kunai to her neck and Shisui appeared. "Winner is Ino Yamanaka of Konoha." He called out. The crowd started cheering as Shisui quietly asked if that was the antidote she gave her. Ino just nodded as the medics came in. Shisui nodded as well at the effectiveness and camaraderie of giving an opponent an antidote during a match. Even if the match was pretty much won.

Shisui started waiting for the crowd to settle but soon they started chanting for the Uchiha to come out. 'But I am already here.' Shisui had to stifle as he turned to the screen for the next round. "Will Dosu of Oto and Sabaku no Gaara of Suna please come down." Shisui said. 'Tough shit crowd, Sasuke is going last it seems.' He thought with a small chuckle at the few boos shouted at him.

"Begin." He called out a few moments after they made it down. As soon as Shisui flashed away, the cork on Gaara's gourd erupted from the gourd. Naruto had to blink as he looked in his hand to see the cork he caught. That was a hell of a lot of ground for the cork to travel. He could see the small grin on Gaara's face.

Dosu wasted no time and quickly rushed to get in closer range. He was far faster than he appeared but could still not get anywhere near Gaara. Channeling chakra into his gauntlet, Dosu sharply struck it with the ring of a kunai. The sand protecting Gaara didn't move and Dosu once more charged.

He got within a few feet of him tendrils of sand started erupting randomly around him. He struck his gauntlet again before having to retreat further away. 'Why isn't it working, he should have been affected at that range.' Dosu thought as he saw Gaara lazily swipe his arm at him. Several sand shuriken were launched from the sand resting at Gaara's feet straight for him.

The barrage went for a few seconds before Dosu was finally forced to block one with his gauntlet. Gaara quickly raised his hand and clenched his fist. Dosu screamed in pain and clutched his gauntlet. Gaara opened his fist quickly and the gauntlet broke apart revealing a clearly broken arm.

"You have nothing else to fight me with, surrender." Gaara said in a monotone voice. Dosu merely started jumping backwards and reached into his pouch and pulled out a scroll. He activated the seal inside and another melody arm appeared. He strapped this one to his left forearm and then grabbed a length of wire from the same pouch.

He quickly fastened his broken arm so it wouldn't sway too much as he ran and took off towards Gaara once more. One after the other he started spitting steel balls to impact his new gauntlet while holding a hand seal and dodging Gaara's attacks. Dodging sharply to the side, Dosu managed to make a quick Earth Clone that quickly charged to get behind Gaara.

Gaara paid it little mind until his sand shot up behind him automatically to catch a kunai that exploded a moment later. Gaara half turned to look at the clone as he threw another kunai that was caught much faster by the sand and smothered before the explosion went off.

Dosu used the distraction to get as close as he had the entire fight and thrust with his gauntlet, pinging a steel ball off it as he threw the punch. Gaara's sand caught it a few feet away and Gaara winced as the sound jutsu actually had some effect at that close range. It wouldn't matter as Dosu was now caught with his entire arm covered in sand.

"Surrender or lose this arm." Gaara said as he reached toward Dosu to command his sand to crush the arm at a moments notice. Dosu replied by spitting a senbon he had hidden under his tongue at Gaara. His sand caught it easily and Gaara crushed the arm he caught. Dosu collapsed to the ground and sand quickly swallowed him up to his neck. Gaara made the motion that he was going to cause his sand to crush him as Shisui jumped down. "Winner is Sabaku no Gaara of Suna." Shisui called out. Gaara nodded and called his sand back to his gourd.

Few noticed the small chunks of sand that came from his own ears. Gaara made his way towards the competitors box that was located close to where Naruto was up on the wall. As he walked, he waved up towards Naruto. He merely tossed the cork back to him and he could have sworn he heard Gaara chuckle from his spot on the wall.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

"Are you going to tell me what you are worried about in this next match now? Betting is closed for the match now. Spill." Tsunade said as she fully turned towards Jiraiya. "Let's just say, kid doesn't have a good record and leave it at that." Jiraiya said.

"Doesn't have a good record. As in he is not strong enough to complete the missions or is a piece of shit like most of his clan was?" Tsunade asked. Jiraiya merely tapped his nose and frowned slightly. "So the big kid is probably going to wind up hurt worse than he should be. If he is a hazard to his fellow shinobi, why is her here?" She asked, frowning as well. "You heard the crowd, that is why." Jiraiya asked as he turned back toward the stadium. The chants for the Uchiha giving him a slight headache.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

"Will Choji Akimichi of Konoha and Sasuke Uchiha of Konoha please come forward." Shisui called. Choji came down, forcing a calm look on his face. Sasuke came down as the definition of arrogance. Basking in the chants of his name.

"Both competitors ready? Begin." Shisui called as he vanished once more. As soon as the call was made, Choji jumped back and swiped his hand over his chest. A moment later, he swiped his right hand past his hip and a small puff of smoke appeared. From the smoke, he pulled a long studded club.

Sasuke laughed at seeing the weapon as he pulled a ninja-to from the sheath on his back. He quickly charged forward, dodging the slow swing from the club and weaving just behind Choji. Choji managed to get his club into a block and pushed Sasuke back as he stomped forward. His stomp caused the ground to shake and Sasuke to waver as he tried to jump back. Choji brought his club down once more and Sasuke was forced to block.

His hands stinging from the impact on his sword, Sasuke managed to get his balance back and jump back. Sasuke tossed his sword in the air as he flashed through a few hand seals. "Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu." He yelled as a very large fireball rolled towards Choji. He narrowed his eyes as he saw Choji flip through seals as two walls coming together in a sharp angle rose in front of him. The fireball was split in half and rolled harmlessly past Choji.

Sasuke gritted his teeth and charged forward, sword now back in his hands. He rounded the corner of the wall Choji pulled up and swung his sword but there was nobody behind the wall. As soon as Sasuke got his swing stopped, two hands reached up from the ground and grabbed his ankles. Sasuke soon found himself armpit deep underground with a studded mace coming straight for him.

He managed to quickly substitute with a nearby chunk of stone that was instantly turned to powder with the force of the blow Choji dealt it. "Still so slow. With these eyes, you might as well be crawling fat-ass." Sasuke taunted. Choji narrowed his eyes at Sasuke but did not react otherwise.

Choji went through hand seals a moment later and Sasuke found himself dodging earth spikes that began twisting and following him from his side. Sasuke dodged for a few moments before he decided he was tired of it and instead started flipping through hand seals. Seeing this, Choji dropped his jutsu and started going through new hand seals.

"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu." Sasuke called out as he spit out a dragon that went straight towards Choji with it's maw wide open. Choji knelt down and a wide tube of earth appeared before him. As the dragon closed half of the distance, Sasuke's concentration was broken as another pair of hands grabbed him by the knees this time.

Choji quickly made one last hand seal as the tube erupted and a large stone was shot out of it directly towards Sasuke, dispelling the fire dragon along the way. Sasuke had managed to swing his sword and destroy the Earth Clone that had grabbed him and jump to the side to avoid the cannonball that was heading his way. As soon as it missed, Choji was once more just over him with a club raised high.

Sasuke swung his sword to knock the club off path. With the club swing having missed, Choji released the club and made one, one handed hand seal and thrust his other hand toward Sasuke. The hand instantly grew wider than Sasuke's torso and went to grab him.

Sasuke smirked and moved his sword to swipe Choji's now enlarged hand. His smirk instantly vanished when Choji didn't make any effort to dodge the swipe and instead grabbed the sword and him before lifting him up and slamming him hard down onto his back. Sasuke gasped for air for a moment before he saw another enlarged fist coming down toward his gut. He rolled to the side and grabbed at his forearm as he struck the ground.

A moment later, lightning started arcing wildly from Sasuke's grip on Choji's arm. Choji bit his tongue to not cry out in pain and instead grabbed Sasuke by the throat with his other hand. Sasuke started jerking slightly before he stopped the flow of chakra to his jutsu.

Choji lifted Sasuke up once more before slamming him into the ground again and again. Sasuke's vision was starting to fade slightly as Choji let him go. Choji swiped his hand over his chest just like he did at the start of the fight and felt himself sag slightly. He jumped and stomped Sasuke's chest with his full weight, hard. The ground split slightly under Sasuke as he coughed up some blood from the impact.

Choji took a step back and looked towards where he thought Shisui would have went. Not getting a reply, he walked back towards Sasuke as he struggled to stand. He quickly thrust his club directly into Sasuke's shoulder. A sickening crunch could be heard through the entire stadium along with Sasuke's scream as his shoulder socket was shattered.

Sasuke slumped forward for a moment before straightening his back and instantly spitting a small fireball right a Choji. Choji, with his resistance and gravity seals still on from the heavy stomp he did earlier couldn't dodge so he enlarged his hand and used it to protect his face. His chakra enforced hand managed to block most of the damage but he was still burned a bit. He brought his other hand around that still had the club and hit Sasuke directly in his currently broken shoulder.

Sasuke was sent unceremoniously through the air. He made no effort to catch himself as he rag dolled until he finally came to a stop at the base of the wall. Shisui made himself known and called the match in favor of Choji. The crowd remained quiet except for a few specific cheers. After the stunned silence, there was a respectful amount of clapping but no real cheering.

"Ladies and Gentleman. With this match, the first round of these finals is complete." Shisui announced. The cheering picked up a bit before Shisui continued. "With this, we will take a short ten minute break to release the new betting information for the next round. The next round will be a little different however." Shisui announced getting the attention of everyone in the arena.

"The second round will be far more dangerous as we will be modifying the arena to house many traps. These seals are already in place and some will be armed, some will not. They will change with every match regardless of how many go off. There is a great variety, I will not give away what they do but this will simulate both competitors fighting in enemy territory. Being unfamiliar with an area that has unknown traps and defenses is not uncommon for chunin to face. If the competitors cannot handle the traps here, they are unfit to be promoted." Shisui announced.

After he gave it a moment to sink in, he waved up towards the walls. All four members of the fuin-jutsu core dropped down directly around him and each unrolled thick scrolls that formed a square around him. All four of them bit their thumbs and went through a very long set of hand seals before placing both palms to the scroll they personally laid out. A large and complicated seal lit up covering the entire arena before it faded away.

Also changing were three stone pillars that rose just a few inches. They were about a foot around, one under Shisui and two more a short distance apart in front of him. Just enough to be easily noticed. They all nodded, rerolled their scrolls up and disappeared back to their places on the wall. "These three pillars are the only safe places. Competitors are urged to make it here as quickly as they can to start the match. If you fall to a trap before you make it, you will be disqualified for failure to appear for your match." Shisui announced with authority.

"I will also use this time to remind the medical staff to await a member of the fuin-jutsu core to escort them to any competitor that needs medical attention. With that, we wills start the ten minute break and resume these chunin exam finals when time is up." Shisui called out before he turned the screen behind him that had just started a timer.

The names, Shino Aburame, Rock Lee, Kurotsuchi Kamizuru, Ino Yamanaka, Sabaku no Gaara, and Choji Akimichi were all listed below the timer. Each name came to the center of the screen directly below the timer with a picture of the corresponding person appearing. It would rotate through everyone for the full ten minutes.

In the stands, everyone was either getting drinks, food, or doing whatever else they needed in the short break. Tsunade was taking her seat next to Jiraiya and Shizune a few minutes into the break. "So, how did you make out in the first round Hime?" Jiraiya asked.

"That brat of yours kept me positive, barely. Who do you think is going to make it through the next round." Tsunade asked as she went over the card detailing the next rounds. "Hard to say. They are all definitely something special. Lee for sure and probably the sand kid. I remember him from many years ago. Let's just say that sand comes from a rather potent chakra source." Jiraiya said.

"Potent? Isn't it magnet release? A few Kazekages are the only to truly master it. It is pretty nasty but should be beatable." Tsunade said. "Well, yes and no. Magnet release, probably. It doesn't come from the kid though. It is mostly from his, burden." Jiraiya said as he lifted one finger. It clicked a moment after with Tsunade and she went to object to letting a jinchuriki into the exams before Jiraiya stopped her.

"That Fuu girl was also one, or seven in this case. They are still genin so the threat is greatly diminished. As long as they don't fully transform, it will be fine. Just a large advantage for them." Jiraiya said dismissively. "Advantage my ass." Tsunade said bitterly.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

 **Well that is the chapter. Little short, fair. I am not going to explain any of the fights. If you have a complaint with them, good for you. If you are unsure how someone won, good for you. Most of the people there didn't scream out their plan or gloat like canon and so many fanfics. This was intentional. They are ninja, and this is my story. I do not believe in long, drawn out encounters. Especially in these matches where most are very one sided.**


End file.
